;?it?g:3>i;,  ■  ,  mA    ■     <:\':ss:i^m>mi^Li!mn'«^f:^Jsr.%i*Z'»m^^ 


£ibrarj?  of t:he  theological  ^eminarjo 

PRINCETON    .   NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Prof.  J.G.  Hibben 

BX  9225  .B755  W5  ~^ 

Williams,  David  Riddle. 
James  H.  Brookes  i 


^pr^^l.^*..^^^     y/yV^V^^r^^NT 


{From  his  last  photograph.) 


/ 

James  h.  Brookes: 


A  MEMOIR. 


BY  y 
DAVID  RIDDI^E  WILLIAMS. 


WITH   AN   APPKNDIX. 


PUBLISHED  FOR  DR.  BROOKES'  FKHiLY,  BT  J    W.  HLLEn.  D.D,.  Mhmhger 
ST.  LOUIS  DEPOSITORY, 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  op  PUBLICATION. 


BUSCHflHT    BROS.    PRINT     ST.    LOUIS.  H0» 
.•••1897.... 


Copyright,  i897. 
by  s.  o.  brookes  and  d.  r.  williams. 


I.OVINGI.Y    DEDICATED 

TO 
O.    B.    W.    AND    S.    O.     B. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter     I.  '  'The  Child  is  Father  of  the  Man. ' ' 

II.  The  Youth. 

*'       III.  The   Collegian. 

"        IV,  At  Princeton  Seminary. 

V.  The  Settled  Pastor. 

VI.  Called  to  St.  Louis. 

•'      VII.  Troublous  Times. 

"    VIII.  The  16th  and  Walnut  Street  Church. 

"        IX.     The  Washington  and  Compton  Ave, 
Church. 

X.  The  Preacher  and  Pastor. 

"        XI.  "How  I  Became  a  Pre-millennialist." 

''      XII.  The  Bible  Scholar. 

''    XIII.  The  Author. 

"     XIV.  The  Editor. 

XV.  Side-Eights. 

"     XVI.  '' Captain  Greatheart." 

"  XVII-  Looking  Backward. 

"  XVIII.  Pastor  Emeritus. 

••     XIX.  Translated. 

'*       XX.  Appendix. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

James  H.  Brookes.     (From_^his  last  photograph.) 

Dr.   Brookes  as  a  young  man. 

Dr.  Brookes  in  middle  age. 

The  Washington  and  Compton  Avenue  Church. 

Fac-simile  of  an  interleaved  page  in  one  of  Dr. 
Brookes'  Bibles. 

Fac-simile  of  a  page  of  Dr.  Brookes'  Bible  notes. 

Dr.  Brookes'  Librar>^. 

The  Children  and  their  Chosen  Playfellow. 

Auditorium,  Washington  and  Compton  Avenue 
Church. 


PREFACE. 

This  memoir  of  my  father-in-law,  Dr.  James  Hall 
Brookes,  the  world-honored  preacher,  author,  editor, 
— and  great  and  good  man, — was  written  at  the  re- 
quest of  his  family  and  intimate  friends. 

That  the  facts  of  his  life  should  be  preserved  for 
all  time,  in  some  such  form,  was  patent.  And  as  no 
one  older  and  abler  stepped  forward  to  do  the  work, 
the  writer  undertook  it,  with  natural  hesitancy;  yet 
gladly  as  a  labor  of  love. 

The  layman  author  fully  recognizes  his  limita- 
tions in  such  a  memoir,  and  has  studiously  avoided 
getting  in  an  inch  beyond  his  depth.  No  philosophi- 
cal analysis  of  character  is  attempted — the  facts  are 
presented:  Those  facts  have  been  laboriously  gleaned 
and  are  correct,  coming  from  first  sources. 

Nor  is  any  effort  made  to  discuss  Dr.  Brookes' 
theological  beliefs  (it  is  needless  to  add).  His  own 
words  are  quoted. 

As  a  presentation  of  facts,  in  plain  English,  this 
work  is  offered,  and  as  such  should  be  judged;  that, 
and  nothing  more. 

It  is  but  fair  to  the  author  to  add  that  every  line 
was  written  in  the  heat  of  the  past  St.  Louis  summer 
and  fall,  after  long  and  unremitting  days'  duties  on  a 
city  newspaper's  staH. 

It  is  hoped,  however,  that  not  too  often  it  may 
appear  to  be  the  work  of  a  tired  man. 

St.  Louis,  Nov..  ^^97' 


INTRODUCTION. 

This  is  the  plain  record  of  the  life  and  works  of 
one  who  was  a  fatherless  boy,  earning  his  food  and 
garret  bed  when  eight  years  old;  of  a  needy  youth 
who  secured  his  college  education  '  'by  the  sweat  of 
his  brow,"  and  who  lived  at  times,  literally,  on  bread 
and  water  while  a  student;  of  an  unknown  minister, 
poor  and  without  influence,  who  won  his  way  among 
strangers  solely  on  his  worth,  and  who  came  through 
crucial  tests  in  the  troublous  times  of  the  60' s  such 
as  this  generation  wots  not  of. 


And  then  it  tells  of  a  city  pastor,  for  thirty-nine 
years  the  head  of  a  large  St.  Louis  church;  and  of 
an  author  of  a  score  of  books  (one  read  in  five  lan- 
guages); and  the  editor  of  a  widely-known  magazine. 

And  then  it  tries  to  picture  the  every-day  life  of 
the  man;  whose  intellectual  and  moral  stature  was 
like  that  of  his  physical — head-and-shoulders  above 
the  rank  and  file  of  us. 


With  middle  age  came  world-wide  fame  to  this 
Bible  scholar,  preacher  and  author. 

Old  age  drew  on,  and  crowned  with  richer  hon- 
ors the  head  of  the  soldier  who  had  fought  the  good 
fight. 

And  then,  on  Easter  Sunday,  1897,  at  sunrise — 
peacefully  as  a  tired  infant  in  its  mother's  arms — he 
fell  asleep. 


a 


The  Child  is    Father  of 
the  Man." 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  -FATHER  OF  THE  MAN." 

^7^ HE  early  life  of  James  Hall  Brookes  re- 
\^     minds  one  of  the  opening  pages  of  some 
old-fashioned  book  of  romance. 
He  had  in  him  the  recognized  character- 
istics of  the  self-made  hero  of  a  work  of  fiction. 
A    strikingly    handsome    lad,    strong   and     of 
magnificent  physique,  he  entered  the  lists  in 
the  contest  of  life  alone,  unaided — and  he  won. 
Throughout  this  early  life,  as  later  days 
have  proven,  "the  child,"  indeed,  "is    father  of 
the  man." 


The  little  town  of  Pulaski,  Tennessee, 
was  the  birthplace  of  James  H.  Brookes.  The 
27th  of  February,  1830,  was  his  natal  day. 
He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  James  H.  Brookes, 
Sr.,  and  Judith  Smith  Lacy  Brookes.  His 
father  was  born  in  North  Carolina;  his  mother's 
home  was  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia. 


11 


12  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

He  was  in  the  line  of  Presbyterian  and 
ministerial  descent,  and  came  of  an  ancestry  to 
be  proud  of,  on  both  maternal  and  paternal 
sides,  though  he  disliked  to  hear  any  one 
boast  of  kin,  and  never  did  so  himself.  His 
mother's  father.  Rev.  Dr.  Drury  Lacy,  was  a 
well-known  Virginia  Presbyterian.  His  grand- 
father, John  Ward  Brookes,  was  a  Methodist 
layman,  who  had  taken  for  his  wife  that  staunch 
Presbyterian  lass,  Margaret  Houston,  of  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland. 

James  H.  Brookes,  Sr.,  was  educated  at 
old  Hampton  Sidney  College,  of  which  his 
noted  father-in-law,  Dr.  Lacy,  had  been  an 
honored  president.  He  received  his  theologi- 
cal training  at  Union  Seminary  of  that  State, 
and  his  first  charge  was  in  Virginia. 

A  short  time  before  the  birth  of  his  famous 
son,  he  had  become  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  Pulaski,  Tennessee.  This  town  is 
in  a  beautiful  section  of  the  State,  a  region  of 
rolling  plateaus.  Here  was  one  of  the  strong- 
est Presbyterian  congregations  of  its  southern- 
central  portion.  In  that  spot  young  James 
Brookes  passed  his  infancy  and  early  years. 

Dr.  Brookes,  the  father,  was  an  honored 
missionary  servant  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly,  and  did  much  to  establish  and  nur- 


THE    "FATHER   OF   THE   MAN."  13 

ture  new  churches.  In  1831  he  was  request- 
ed to  leave  Pulaski,  for  a  short  time,  to  or- 
ganize and  take  charge  of  a  new  Presbyterian 
church  in  Cincinnati.  He  labored  in  that 
city  for  two  years,  but  the  climate  not  agree- 
ing with  his  wife,  the  family  returned  to 
Pulaski. 

The  pastorate  there  had  not  been  dis- 
solved. In  the  interim,  Rev.  W.  S.  Lacy,  a 
brother-in-law,  had  filled  the  absent  pastor's 
pulpit.  The  work  was  again  taken  up  in 
Pulaski,  but  it  was  destined  soon  to  be  ended 
for  all  time. 

The  faithful  minister  died  suddenly  ''in 
harness/'  in  June  of  1833,  from  cholera.  That 
dread  disease  was  then  epidemic  in  the 
vicinity. 

On  his  last  Sunday  on  earth.  Dr.  Brookes, 
Sr.,  had  preached  three  times,  and  then  had 
gone  to  minister  to  parishioners  sick  of  the 
malady.  From  them  he  took  the  fatal  sick- 
ness, and  died,  after  an  illness  of  about  eight 
hours. 

James  Hall  Brookes,  the  son,  was  then 
three  years  old. 

His  mother  had  been  bequeathed  many 
slaves  by  her  father,  but  these  her  husband, 
with  her  full  consent,  had  set  free,  before  he 


14  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:       A    MEMOIR. 

had  removed  to  Cincinnati.  The  reason  for 
this  general  manumission  was  two- fold. 
First,  Dr.  Brookes  had  always  held  views 
which  were  considered  outre  concerning  slave- 
holding;  he  never  thoroughly  approved  of  it, 
though  a  bred-in-the-bone  Southern  gentle- 
man. And,  second,  he  knew  it  was  impossible 
to  take  his  slaves  to  the  modest  Cincinnati 
parsonage. 

There  were  two  courses  before  him:  he 
must  sell  his  slaves,  or  rent  their  services. 

The  first  was  utterly  abhorrent  to  him,  and 
not  considered  for  a  moment;  and  his  exper- 
ience with  the  latter  custom  had  disgusted  him; 
(a  female  slave  of  his  was  once  hired  out  and 
came  home  with  marks  of  cruel  beatings  on  her 
person.)  So  he  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  free- 
ing them  all. 

But  he  did  not  turn  them  loose  as  helpless 
children;  money  was  provided  to  care  for  them 
all,  for  at  least  a  year.  One  old  "aunty"  posi- 
tiv^ely  declined  to  be  "free,"  and  on  the  return 
of  the  family  to  Pulaski  attached  herself  to  the 
household  for  life. 

THE    FATHERLESS    LAD. 

The  loss  of  the   husband  and   father    left 

the  widow  in  very  straightened  circumstances. 

When  her  son  James  was  eight  years   old 


THE    "FATHER   OF   THE   MAN."  15 

he  became  a  semi-member  of  the  family  of  a 
friend,  a  retired  judge,  who  had  turned  farmer. 

This  man,  who  had  been  an  elder  in  Dr. 
Brookes'  church,  offered  to  take  James  to  his 
farm,  about  a  hundred  miles  distant,  and  give 
him  a  home,  with  a  chance  to  study,  in  return 
for  what  he  could  do. 

His  treatment  there  was  no  doubt  well 
meant,  yet  it  was  anything  but  what  he  had  been 
accustomed  to.  His  bed-room  was  a  corner 
of  a  dark  garret.  There  he  sobbed  himself  to 
sleep — for  he  was  but  a  child  and  missed  his 
dear  mother  sorely — on  the  first  night  in  the 
new  ''home." 

(As  soon  as  his  mother  learned  of  his  sur 
roundings  there,  a  year  later, — for  he  was  too 
brave  to  complain, — she  sent  for  him.) 

On  this  farm  James  had  fixed  tasks  to 
perform,  and  fully  earned  his  daily  bread  and 
garret  couch.     But  he  also  had  time  for  study. 

A  long  stage-coach  journey  had  been 
necessary  to  reach  the  new  home.  On  the  way, 
alone,  the  boy  met  a  man  who  was  destined  to 
play  an  important  part  in  his  life.  That  man, 
later,  became  Governor  Neil  Brown,  of 
Tennessee.  At  the  time  of  the  lonely  journey 
on  the  stage  coach,  he  took  a  great  fancy   to 


16  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

the  brave  youngster  who  was  beginning  so 
early  to  solve  life's  problems. 

So,  at  eight  years  of  age,  our  hero — for  he 
was  a  hero — began  to  support  himself.  Even 
in  old  age,  Dr.  Brookes  could  not  forget  that 
pitiful  first  night.  So  great  was  his  loneliness 
during  those  times,  he  used  to  say,  that  he 
finally  begged  one  of  the  young  slaves  about 
the  place  to  share  the  garret  with  him, 

Do  we  not  again  see  the  likeness  to  the 
opening  chapter  of  some  hero  of  romance? 
There  seems  to  be  no  element  lacking.  And 
yet  this  is  simply  an  exact  statement  of  the 
facts  of  his  life,  and  in  no  way  the  play  of 
fancy. 

THE  DRY  GOODS  CLERK. 

When  twelve  years  old  he  was  an  errand 
boy  and  under  clerk  in  a  general  store.  In 
later  life  Dr.  Brookes  enjoyed  telling  of  his 
first  experience  in  selling  calico. 

A  lady  came  in  to  buy  some  of  that  cloth, 
and  while  he  waited  upon  her  she  asked  if 
the  colors  were  ''fast." 

"Wait  till  I  go  and  ask,"  was  the  young 
clerk's  reply.  He  went  to  the  proprietor's 
son  with  the  query. 

"Yes,  of  course,"  was  the  quick  response, 
which  James  promptly  repeated. 


THE    "FATHER   OF  THE   MAN."  17 

The  goods  were  wrapped  up  and  the 
purchaser  was  just  passing  out,  when  the 
aforesaid  son  added,  with  a  laugh:  ''Yes,  the 
colors  are  fast — fast  fading." 

The  customer  had  not  heard,  but  young 
Brookes  had.  Shocked  and  indignant,  he  rush- 
ed after  the  retreating  buyer,  much  to  the  dis- 
gust of  the  aforesaid  son,  and  made  known  the 
truth. 

The  "errand  boy"  evidently  made  the 
best  possible  use  of  his  limited  facilities  for 
learning.  While  under  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Governor  Neil  BroAvn,  of  Tennessee,  (who 
had  shared  that  stage-coach  ride,)  selected  him 
as  eligible  for  an  appointment  to  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 

But  his  mother's  heart  was  set  upon  his 
becoming  a  minister,  and  she  persuaded  him, 
much  against  his  will  at  first,  to  give  up  the 
idea  of  the  military  career  which  had  fascinated 
his  young  mind.  For  some  time  after  this  he 
was  very  despondent. 

This  Governor  Brown  had  been  a  great 
admirer  of  Dr.  Brookes,  Sr.  Some  time  later 
he  freely  offered  James  a  home  with  him,  and 
an  education,  both  free  of  any  expense  to  the 
mother,  or  to  her  son.  But  the  kind  offer  was 
declined,   much  as  the  education  was  longed 


18  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

for,  and  sadly  as  the  means  to  obtain  it  were 
lacking.  The  young  man  could  not  bring 
himself  to  accept  such  aid  when  he  had  a  fight- 
ing and  working  chance  to  pay  his  own  way 
through  college.  He  fully  intended  to  plunge 
through  the  swift  rapids  of  life  in  his  own 
canoe;  or  his  own  raft,  if  he  could  not  afford 
the  first  craft. 

When  about  fifteen  years  old,  he  entered 
the  Academy  at  Ashewood,  Tennessee.  His 
preparation  had  been  chiefly  by  his  own  efforts, 
amply  stimulated  by  his  mother,  a  woman  of 
exceptional  ability,  sweetness  and  strength  of 
character.  She  did  much  of  the  teaching  her- 
self; and  her  pupil  was  an  extraordinarily  apt 
one. 

Ashewood  was  a  veritable  "nest  of  Pres- 
byterianism,"  with  a  strong  church  and  denomi- 
national school  of  high  standing  in  that  region. 

Young  Brookes  had  been  a  pupil  there 
but  a  short  time  when  the  news  of  a  dangerous 
illness  which  had  befallen  him  brought  sorrow 
to  the  Pulaski  home.  The  m^other  hastened 
to  his  side  and  nursed  him  back  to  health.  An 
incident  in  connection  with  that  sickness  be- 
came a  piece  of  family  history. 

THE  OLD  slave's  REMARKABLE  PROPHECY. 

At  the  time  of  the   manumission  of  the 


THE    "FATHER   OF   THE    MAN."  19 

family  slaves,  one  of  them,  old  ''Mammy 
Hannah,"  referred  to  before,  the  devoted 
guardian  of  the  children,  had  positively  declin- 
ed to  accept  the  proffered  freedom,  and  had 
announced  her  unalterable  intention  of  living 
and  dying  as  their  nurse. 

The  faithful  old  servant  was  bowed  in 
sorrow  at  the  tidings  of  the  severe  illness  of 
''Young  Marser  Jeems,"  at  the  Ashewood 
Academy. 

She  helped  to  nurse  him  with  untiring  de- 
votion through  his  dangerous  illness.  Once, 
when  her  place  at  his  bedside  was  pre-empted, 
the  old  negress  took  herself  to  the  woods, 
where  she  spent  the  entire  night  in  prayer  for 
the  recovery  of  her  young  master.  She  re- 
turned calm,  hopeful,  and  positively  assured 
that  he  would  recover. 

"Ah's  seen  a  vishun  in  de  woods,"  she 
declared;  and  nothing  could  shake  her  belief. 

"Ah  wrestled  all  de  nite  in  prar,  and  de 
good  Lord  dun  hear  dis  ole  nigger,  sho'. 

"He  shown  me  Marser  Jeems  a-standin' 
in  a  pulpet  a-preachin'  de    everlasten  Gospel." 

Her  young  master  at  that  time  had 
planned  to  be  a  soldier — or  anything  but  a 
preacher.  He  was  no  canting,  impossible 
Sunday-school  book  prodigy,  who  is  too  good 


20  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR.' 

for  this  earth;  and  fortunately,  generally  dies 
in  the  last  chapter.  He  told  her  that  *'it  must 
have  been  some  other  fell6vv  you  saw  standing 
in  that  pulpit."  But  the  more  earnestly  did 
she  insist  on  the  truth  of  her  *'vishun."  And 
time  soon  bore  her  out. 

JAMES  H.  BROOKES,  SCHOOLMASTER. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  the  young  man  be- 
came a  molder  of  the  minds  of  the  young  in  a 
country  school,  about  two  miles  from  Pulaski. 
Some  of  his  pupils  were  older  than  himself; 
most  of  them  were  of  his  own  age. 

He  walked  to  and  from  his  scene  of  duty. 
It  was  before  the  day  of  the  "little  red  school 
house"  and  the  public  school  teachers.  It  was 
his  own  school,  and  every  cent  of  his  meagre 
emolument  per  capita  that  could  be  spared, 
was  religiously  laid  aside  towards  his  college 
education. 

He  taught  there  until  he  was  eighteen 
years  old.  At  the  close  of  his  teaching  exper- 
iences he  was  employed  as  a  census-taker, 
and  at  that  odd  occupation  doubtless  delved 
deeply  Into  the  book  of  human  nature. 

All  this  time  he  was  preparing  himself  for 
college.  Time  was  passing,  he  recognized,  so 
he  must  ''catch  up,"  by  entering  Junior  instead 
of  Freshman  year.     This,  we  will  find,  he  did. 


The  Youth. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    YOUTH. 

|OST  fortunately,  there  have  been  found 
two  old  diaries  kept  by  Dr.  Brookes 
when  a  youth.  The  earliest  of  these 
begins  on  Feb.  26,  1849. 

These  records  give  a  remarkable  insight 
into  his  environments — spiritual,  mental  and 
mundane. 

There  should  be  noted,  first,  the  dark 
background  of  family  bereavement  in  the  death 
of  his  father,  and  beloved  older  brother,  John. 
Then  came  financial  and  other  sorrows  in  the 
home.  The  young  mind  was  early  forced 
into  a  serious  mould. 

l^he  high   hopes   and  earnest   endeavors 

to  secure  the  longed-for  collegiate   training   is 

touchingly    shown;    the    practical   question    of 

ways  and  means;  the   pride   and   sensitiveness 

of  the  poor  young  student;  the  alternations  of 

hope  and  fear.     A   few  lines  here,  and  there, 

23 


24  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

point  out  the  complete  picture  for  the  careful 
reader  of  these  selections    which  follow. 

Dr.  Brookes  rarely  spoke  of  himself, 
either  In  youth,  middle  age,  or  towards  his 
latter  end.  But  to  these  diary  pages  he  con- 
fided much.  It  Is,  Indeed,  fortunate  that  they 
have  lately  been  found.  These  selections 
well  supplement  the  brief  outline  sketch  of  his 
early  days  which  has  preceded. 

Quotations  from  the  diaries  follow: 

"February  27,  1849. 

'*'"  "^  The  history  of  our  family  has  been  a 
strange  one.  Though  a  family  walking  in  the 
ordinances  of  the  Lord,  not  many  temporal 
blessings  have  attended  them.  Father  was 
cut  off  in  the  vigor  of  life.  In  the  very  midst 
of  his  usefulness.  Then  my  brother,  just  in 
the  act  of  attaining  the  object  of  his  hopes,  of 
mother's  prayers,  to  follow  In  the  footsteps  of 
father  in  proclaiming  God's  will  to  man.   '"'  ''' 

"Mother's  life  has  been  a  continued  scene 
of  trials  and  sorrow.  And  time.  Instead  of 
smoothing  her  pathway  to  the  grave,  has  only 
heaped  higher  the  troubles  before  her  '"  "^^ 
but  'whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth.* 
*  ■^'''   He  intends  putting  our  faith  to  the  test, 


THK   YOUTH.  25 

trying  its  strength  on  the  fierce  conflicts,  that 
the  path  to  glory  shall  not  be  strewn  with 
tiowers." 

^''Tuesday  Jiight,  February  2y,  ^^49- — My 
nineteenth  birthday  has  come.  To  this 
day  I  have  been  looking  forward  with  feelings 
of  peculiar  interest.  Whenever,  within  the 
past  two  months,  I  have  beheld  its  sure  and 
swift  approach,  it  has  been  with  unavoidable 
sadness  and  bitter  regret  that  I  have  lived  so 
long,  yet  to  such  little  purpose.  ■^'  *  With  my 
poverty,  my  only  hope  of  rising  to  any  emi- 
nence in  the  scale  of  intellectual  existence  de- 
pends on  my  single  exertions;  and  the  loud 
calls  from  the  family  are  before  me.   ^'*  "^ 

"With  what  careless  indifference  have  I 
let  golden  opportunities  slip.  '"  ''"  Others 
have  labored  under  circumstances  equally  un- 
favorable and  have  triumphed  by  their  own 
unaided  exertions.  ''''  ''  But  especially  have  I 
regarded  this  day  with  feelings  of  deep  interest 
on  account  of  things  of  a  spiritual  nature  con- 
nected with  it." 

In  the  next  entry  the  kind  offer  of  the 
Governor  of  Tennessee  to  educate  him  is 
recorded.  The  struggle  which  follows,  and 
the  determination  not  to  put  himself  under  any 
such  obligations,  is  vividly  set  forth. 


26  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

''March  2^.— This  has  been  a  week  more 
full  of  joy  to  me  than  usual.  Doubtless  the 
cause  is  partly  owing  to  a  piece  of  intelligence 
I  received.  '^  ^''  It  was  the  kind  offer  of  Gov. 
Brown  for  me  to  reside  with  him  in  Nashville, 
and  go  to  College.  College  life  I  have  so 
earnestly  longed  for  '"  '"  the  road  to  high 
usefulness  and  honor  that  I  had  thought 
blocked  with  almost  unsurmountable  difficulties 
is  made  smooth.    '"    '"' 

"It  was  a  most  strong  temptation  to  lay 
aside  my  foolish  independence.  I  had  almost 
yielded,  but  the  almost  sure  prospect  of  making 
money  sufficient  to  bear  me  through  College, 
by  taking  the  census,  next  year,  decided  me. 
I  had  much  rather  labor  a  little  longer  and  a 
little  harder,  and  be  the  builder,  by  God's 
help,  of  my  own  fortune.   '"    '" 

"But  this  news  caused  emotions  I  never 
felt  before.  '"  '"'  How  merciful,  how  full  of 
loving  kindness  my  Heavenly  Father  has  been 
to  me." 

''Tuesday  night,  March  28.— ^  '"'  My  Chris- 
tian energy  and  devotion  were  more  aroused 
by  reading  at  home,  last  Sabbath,  the  bio- 
graphy of  James  B.  Taylor,  than  for  some 
time.  What  an  example  is  here  of  piety,  what 
Paul-like  fervor! 


THK  Yotri'H.  27 

*'A  man  whose  ideas  are  absolutely  in  one 
pervading  idea,  whose  heart's  best  affections 
gush  out  in  one  powerful,  onward,  ceaseless 
flow,  bearing  on  his  bosom  the  cause  of  his 
Master.  What  proof  here  of  the  divinity  of 
our  religion." 

''April  12.—  "  '"  Would  that  I  felt  a  deeper 
interest  in  these  friends  who  are  still  'without 
God  in  the  world.'  " 

Here  is  shown  an  insight  into  fierce 
spiritual  battles,  which  had  to  be  fought,  and 
won.  It  is  because  Dr.  Brookes  had  been  as- 
sailed by  doubts  in  youth,  that  he  was  such  a 
grand  leader  of  young  men's  gatherings.  He 
knew  their  spiritual  experiences. 

''April  26. — Assailed  by  unbelief  more 
fiercely  and  constantly  than  usual.  The 
tempter  has  been  trying  to  persuade  me  that 
religion  is  a  principle  of  our  natures,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  worship  of  the  most  savage  men; 
and  that  the  Christian  religion  is  but  a  sub- 
limer  superstition;  the  invisibility  and  mystery 
of  our  Deity  making  Him  more  awful  than  the 
ridiculous  objects  of  heathen  adoration. 

'''The  tempter  is  continually  whispering 
such  doubts  in  my  ear.  Were  it  not  for  the 
hope  that  when  my  perseverance  is  tested  and 
*  I  faint  not,'  the  clouds  will  be  rifted  and  the 


28  JAMES    H.    BROOKKS:      A    ]\IEMOIR. 

'Sun  of  Righteousness'  will  illumine  my  path,  I 
would  give  up  in  despair.  '"    ''• 

"I  fight  daily  with  'this  desperately  wick- 
ed' heart.  May  the  time  be  hastened,  and 
may  I  hold  out  until  the  'end.'  " 

Then  there  must  have  followed  another 
struggle  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  kind  offer 
of  the  friend  of  his  father.  Governor  Brown. 
He  evidently  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
made  a  mistake  in  refusing  it — though,  a  little 
later,  we  will  see  that  the  offer  in  question 
never  was  accepted, 

''April  26. — Have  written  to  Gov.  Brown 
again, thanking  him  for  his  noble  offer,  and  ac- 
cepting it.  1  am  anxiously  awaiting  the  ar- 
rival of  his  letter  which  will  finally  determine 
me  how  to  act.  I  hope  that  the  Lord  will,  if 
it  be  in  accordance  with  His  pleasure,  '^  ^ 
make  use  of  me  as  an  instrument  to  do  His 
purposes." 

Here  we  see  an  expression  of  despon- 
dency in  the  yearning  hope  of  that  college 
education: 

''May  J. — Got  my  letter  from  Gov.  Brown. 
I  was  disappointed.  Instead  of  a  light  steadily 
fixed  in  the  future,  which  I  so  earnestly  long- 
ed for,  my  mind  is  prey  to  the  same  gloom  and 
uncertainty.       A//er  all,   I  viay  7iot  get  to  Colleger 


THE    YOUTH.  29 

But — joy    came   with  the   morning,  soon: 

''May  14. — How  manifold  are  the  mercies 
of  God.  He  seems  to  have  granted  me  every 
opportunity  I  could  wish,  to  obtain  the  object 
of  my  desires — to  bear  me  on  with  scarcely  a 
struggle. 

•*In  fact,  so  many  ways  are  opened  to  me 
I  do  not  know  which  to  enter.  On  Saturday 
I  was  offered  a  situation  in  the  Male  Academy. 
And  another,  still  better,  offer  conies  to  me; 
one  in  which  I  can  make  much  more  money — 
decidedly  preferable  to  my  present  situation 
in  every  respect,  perhaps. 

''So  God  may  have  some  ivork  for  me  to  do, 
*  '^  May  it  awaken  a  deeper  gratitude  and 
love." 

Here  the  dominie  rejoices  that  his  salary 
is  to  be  raised  to  the  princely  sum  of  $170  a 
term — of  which  he  hopes  to  save  $160! 

"May  16. — ''^  '"'■  My  friends  are  unwilling 
that  I  should  leave  this  neighborhood.  They 
have  at  once  raised  my  salary  surprisingly.  It 
is  now  increased  to  $170;  and  these  generous 
friends  only  charging  me  $10  board  for  next 
session,  it  will  leave  me  $160.   '"'  '^ 

''It  is,  and  has  long  been,  evident  tome 
that  God  was  and  is  specially  directing  my 
ways.  *'^  *"'     How  else  can  I  so  have  succeed- 


30  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

ed  ?  I  know  how  deficient  I  was  in  education 
and  in  almost  every  other  quality  requisite  for 
the  schoolmaster,  yet  I  have  astonished  my- 
self. 

"Here  lies  the  secret:  /  asked  God's  assist- 
ance and  He  granted  it. ' ' 

The  melody  turns  to  minor,  again: 

''Friday  noon,  /7me  I.— This,  to  me,  is  one 
of  the  saddest  days  imaginable.  ''^  *^  In  the 
distance  is  just  visible  my  birth-place,  the 
home  of  my  joyous  childhood,  over  which  so 
many  sad,  most  sad  changes  have  come.  '"*  *"' 
But  I  should  cast  the  feeling  off.  It  is  not 
manly." 

[And  manliness  was  his  key-note  through- 
out life.] 

A  tender  tribute  to  his  father  is  here 
paid: 

''June  <?.— Sixteen  years  ago  to-day  my 
father  died.  Though  I  have  no  recollection 
of  him,  I  have  been  taught  to  cherish  a  sacred 
love  for  my  departed  father,  and  have  often 
deeply  regretted  that  memory  would  not  bring 
up  the  faintest  look  or  action  of  his." 


School  is  almost  "out,"  we  see,  and  the 
youthful  master  is  soliloquizing  over  a  very 
successful  ten  months'  session.  Evidently  he 
had  the  farmers'  boys  well  in  hand,  and  could 


THE   YOUTH.  31 

doubtless  "lick"  them  in  a  bunch,  if  necessary: 

''June  14. — One  day  more  and  my  labors 
for  this  session  are  over.  How  anxiously  I 
have  looked  forward  to  this  time.  For  ten 
months  have  I  toiled.  I  know  if  I  had  been 
left  to  my  own  unaided  exertions  I  should 
have  failed.  ''"   '"'" 

"In  all  this  time  no  serious  difficulty 
has  occurred,  and  I  have  been  enabled  to  go 
forward." 

And  now  another  term  begins.  He  is 
delighted  over  an  attendance  of  thirty-three: 

''July  J,  184^. — I  began  school  again  yes- 
terday, under  circumstances  peculiarly  flatter- 
ing. My  school  already  numbers  thirty-three 
— nearly  twice  as  many  as  I  had  the  whole  of 
last  session — and  doubtless  will  increase.  ''^  ''" 
I  know  I  am  under  His  guidance  in  every 
action,  but  it  has  struck  me  that  He  has  es- 
pecially upheld  me  in  my  school." 

1850's    RECORD. 

It  is  easy  to  trace  the  maturer  mind  and 
the  firmer  chirography  in  the  new  diary  of 
1850,  selections  of  which  are  now  given.  The 
first  entry  of  the  new  year  shows  deep  fervor 
of  spirit: 

"First  Sabbath  night  oJiS^o.—^  have  been 
engaged  all  evening  in   reading  the  'Memoir 


32  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

of  the  Rev.  Robert  McCheyne/  What  a 
noble,  enviable  man  was  he.  Filled  full  of 
love  to  Christ — his  only  desire  seemed  to 
be  to  glorify  Him — his  highest  ambition  to  do 
good.  How  peaceful  and  joyous  his  life,  how 
calm  and  triumphant  his  death.  Oh  !  that  I 
were  like  him.  Reading  the  history  of  his 
burning  love  and  devotedness  to  the  Saviour 
discovers  to  me  more  clearly  my  own  coldness, 
deadness  and  worthlessness. 

"Would  that  I  were  filled  more  with  zeal; 
would  that  it  were  the  one  great  purpose  of 
my  life,  my  chiefest  aim,  to  labor  unceasingly 
for  my  blessed  Master.  I  thought  of  the 
mercies  of  God  unto  me,  His  wonderful  good- 
ness, His  continual  kindness  and  how  little  I 
had  done  to  repay  them;  how  ungrateful  and 
useless  1  had  been;  and  I  there  besought  Him 
to  make  me  more  diligent  in  His  service,  more 
holy,  more  useful,  more  devoted  to  Christ. 

"Here  would  I  renew  my  petition,  be- 
seeching God  that  it  may  be  done  in  a  proper 
spirit.  My  Father  Who  art  in  heaven  ! 
How  good,  how  merciful,  how  forbearing  hast 
Thou  been  unto  me !  Unworthy  as  I  am. 
Thou  hast  ever  been  mindful  of  me,  visiting 
me  in  loving  kindness,  surrounding  me  with 


THK   YOUTH.  S3 

Thy  parental  protection.     Day  after  day  and 
night  after  night  show  forth  Thy  goodness. 

"*  ^^  Accept  this  unworthy  consecration 
of  myself  to  Thee  for  this  year  and  for  life. 
May  I  do  some  good  each  day;  may  I  grow 
much  in  grace  and  the  knowledge  of  truth; 
use  me  to  effect  Thy  holy  purposes;  give  me 
entire  submission  to  Thy  will  in  all  things, 
and  after  a  life  of  great  usefulness  to  men  and 
of  honor  to  Thee,  receive  me  into  Thy 
heavenly  kingdom.  I  earnestly  entreat  for 
Christ's  sake — Amen." 

''Jajmary  //.—To-day  I  again  began  my 
life  of  labor.  Ah  !  mostly  it  is  a  toilsome,  sad 
life  to  me,  but  for  all  that  it  is  a  strengthening, 
pleasant,  toilsomeness,  a  sweet  sadness.  Be- 
cause I  feel  that  I  am  doing  something,  that  I 
am  living  an  earnest  life,  that  I  am  laboring, 
actually  working.    ''*  *'^ 

''My  life  is  not  without  its  joys.  I  can 
leave  the  noisy  gladsomeness  of  the  school- 
boys, and  seek  my  favorite  woods;  there  amid 
the  stillness  of  the  deep  forest — 'God's  first 
temples' — I  can  commune  with  Him  and  hold 
converse  with  my  own  thoughts. 

"There  the  world  with  its  trading,  selfish- 
ness, money-making,  is  forgotten,  and  with 
the  spirit  elevated  by  the  silent,    sacred  influ- 


34  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

ences  about  me,  I  verily  believe  it  lives  for  the 
time  in  a  purer  atmosphere." 

He  pays  high  tribute  to  teachers   here: 

''January  21. — Had  a  fair  excuse  to-day 
not  to  teach.  Owing  to  the  heavy  rains  the 
creeks  was  immensely  swollen.  The  booming 
waters  went  surging  by,  threateningly;  for  half 
a  mile  my  horse  was  in  the  water,  sometimes 
nearly  to  his  back,  but  I  determined  to  go. 

"There  is  something  strengthening  to  me 
in  performing  duty  against  inclination.  I  feel 
better.  Have  been  reading  'The  School  and 
School  Masters,'  a  most  useful,  practical  book. 
I  shall  ever  feel  grateful  to  it  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  wise  hints  it  gave  me. 

''More  and  more  am  I  convinced  that 
next  to  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  the  teacher 
is  living  the  noblest  of  all  lives.  His  is  the 
vastly  important,  but  quiet,  duty  of  laying  the 
foundations  of  Society." 

Here  is  a  striking  example  of  his  char- 
acteristic independence: 

''January  28. — Met  with  some  opposition 
to  one  of  my  rules  of  school  on  the  part  of 
one  who  intended  sending  to  me.  It  annoyed 
and  excited  me  considerably,  during  one  day — 
damped  my  enthusiasm  somewhat — but  I  have 
forgotten  it  now.     Convinced  by  my  own   ex- 


THE   YOUTH.  35 

perience,  and  the  observation  of  others,  that  I 
was  pursuing  decidedly  the  better  plan,  I  de- 
termined to  go  calmly  forward,  independent  of 
the  wishes  of  one  who  has  no  conception  of 
true  education  and  its  end. 

''Was  up  this  morning  an  hour  and  a  half 
before  daylight,  writing.  I  could  not  finish  my 
letters  before  twelve  o'clock  Saturday  night, 
and  I  thank  God  I  had  no  disposition  to  vio- 
late His  Sabbath  by  writing  on  yesterday.  '"   '"* 

'' February  4. — Read  last  week  'The  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Teaching,'  by  D.  P.  Page. 
The  author  is  a  man  of  high  standing  and  long 
experience  as  a  teacher,  and  though  much  of 
his  theory  is  impracticable  in  our  poor  country 
schools,  the  book  is  a  valuable  assistant  to  the 
educator. 

"Heard  on  yesterday  an  unusually  excel- 
lent sermon  from  Mr.  Caldwell.  It  was  one 
of  his  times  to  exhibit  earnestness,  eloquence, 
power.   '"    '" 

''February  //.—Had  a  pleasant  time  in 
school  last  week.  All  went  smoothly,  quietly. 
I  am  daily  receiving  tokens  of  God's  goodness. 
Read  during  the  week,  'Todds'  Student 
Manual,'  a  book  full  of  faithful  advice  and  one 
1  highly  prize,  for  it  showed  to  me  many  of  my 


36  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

own  faults  and  errors,  the  attempt  to    conquer 
which    has  already  been  of  benefit  to  me. 

*'0h!  that  I  were  freer  from  imperfection! 
How  miserably  inferior  I  am  morally  and  in- 
tellectually, to  a  true  man,  to  what  I  might 
have  been.  Lord !  teach  me.  Read  last 
night  the  biography  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 
He  was  a  true  man,  a  strong  man,  a  'proper 
man. 


And  the  young  schoolmaster  must  have 
read  that  "true  man,  strong  man,  'proper 
man,'  "  into  his  own  life  for  all  time. 


The  Collegian 


CHAPTKR  III. 
THE  COLLEGIAN. 

¥ouNG  Brookes  Started  for  Princeton  college, 
but  arrived  at  Miami  University. 
Interesting  is   the  history  of  the   events 
which  led  up  to  that  sudden  change  in  his  life 
plan.      The  hand  of  Providence  can  clearly  be 
seen  through  it  all.      He  was  sent  to  Miami. 

There  he  met  and  loved  the  one  woman 
who  was  meant  to  be  his  wife,  and  who, 
through  their  long,  loving,  ideal  life  together, 
was  ever  one  with  him  in  Christian  service; 
his  constant  stimulus  to  the  fulfillment  of  noble 
purposes;  who  ever  shielded  him  from  petty 
cares;  who  made  his  interests  paramount;  and 
who  received  from  him  all  through  his  married 
life  the  constantly  expressed  devotion  of  a 
youthful  lover,  coupled  with  the  highest  re- 
spect for  her  piety,  her  intellect,  her  attain- 
ments, and  her  splendid  store  of  sound  sense. 


40  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

When  the  way  at  last  was  opened  that 
led  to  the  college  door,  the  young  man  left 
Pulaski  for  the  East,  via  Cincinnati.  In  his 
pocket  he  carried  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  of  that  city.  He  had 
learned  to  greatly  admire  Dr.  Rice,  through 
reading  his  famed  debate  with  Dr.  Alexander 
Campbell,  which  had  taken  place  some  years 
before. 

(It  is  a  striking  coincidence  that  young 
Brookes,  the  ex-country  school  teacher,  was 
destined,  a  few  years  later,  to  be  the  noted 
successor  of  this  same  Dr.  Rice,  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church  of  St.  Louis.) 

On  his  arrival  in  Cincinnati,  Brookes 
learned  that  Dr.  Rice  was  out  of  the  city,  but 
was  expected  soon  to  return.  As  he  was  anx- 
ious to  meet  the  Doctor,  he  decided  to  wait  a 
few  days. 

HOW  HE  FOUND  *'A  FRIEND  IN  NEED." 

While  waiting,  a  peculiar  incident  occurred 
which  the  Dr.  Brookes  of  later  years  never 
forgot. 

He  was  a  total  stranger  in  the  city  and 
was  nobody's  guest,  save  a  hotel's.  His  ready 
money  having  run  out,  he  went  to  a  bank  to 
cash  a  draft  which  represented  about  all  of  his 
worldly  wealth.  The  cashier  politely  said  that 
he  must  be  identified. 


THK    COI.LBGIAN.  41 

''But  I  don't  know  a  soul  in  the  city,"  re- 
plied Brookes. 

''Well,  Tm  very  sorry,  but  I  cannot  cash 
your  draft,"  was  the  response. 

Here  was  a  predicament,  surely.  If  Dr. 
Rice's  return  should  be  delayed  a  few  days 
longer,  what  would  he  do?  The  hotel  proprie- 
tor would  not  cash  the  draft.  As  he  pondered, 
he  walked  about,  seeking  to  find  work  of  any 
kind  to  relieve  his  temporary  needs,  and  con^ 
sidering  ways  and  means. 

Suddenly,  he  glanced  up  and  noticed  a 
name  over  a  store.  It  was  an  odd  Jewish 
name,  and  seemed  strangely  familiar. 

The  next  moment  Brookes  was  in  that 
store,  and  its  proprietor,  with  joyful  counte- 
nance, was  counting  out  gold  for  the  face  of  the 
draft,  and  assuring  him,  meanwhile,  that  any- 
thing in  sight  which  he  wanted  was  his  for  the 
asking. 

"When  my  wife  lay  sick,"  said  the  mer- 
chant, "your  mother  was  the  only  woman  in 
the  whole  place  who  came  to  help  her." 

"You  can  have  anything  there  is  in  this 
store.  I  can  never  forget  her  kindness  to  my 
family — strangers  in  a  far  land." 

That  Jewish  family  had  come  to  Pulaski  in 
Dr.  Brookes'  boyhood.     They  had  met  with  a 


42  JAMES   H.    BROOKE.S:      A    MEMOIR, 

frigid  reception  and  soon  left.  Pulaski,  evi- 
dently, did  not  foster  Jewish  immigration.  Only 
one  person  had  shown  the  strangers  any  cour- 
tesy. That  was  the  mother  ot  the  boy  who 
was  walking  the  streets  of  Cincinnati,  wonder- 
ing how  he  could  get  that  draft  cashed;  and 
what  would  happen  if  he  could  not. 

After  the  heartfelt  welcome,  scenes  of  his 
extreme  youth  flashed  before  his  mind.  He 
recalled  the  arrival  of  the  Jewish  family;  how 
the  children  of  the  strangers  were  shunned  by 
their  schoolmates;  of  how  indignant  his  mother 
was  when  he  told  her  that  the  Jewish  little 
ones  were  mistreated  by  the  others. 

At  that  time  was  implanted  firmly  by  his 
mother,  the  fact  that  the  "J^^^  were  God's 
people."  She  told  him  and  his  sister  that  they 
must  be  kind  to  the  young  strangers,  and  then 
she  practiced  what  she  preached,  by  going  to 
see  the  new  family  herself. 

Those  lessons  were  never  forgotten.  In 
later  life  Dr.  Brookes  was  a  strong  ally  of  vari- 
ous  Jewish  Missions.  He  thoroughly  believed 
in  attempts  to  convert  the  Jews  to  the  recep- 
tion of  Christ  as  their  Messiah.  To  his  moth- 
er's precepts  and  practice  that  tendency  can 
doubtless  be  traced.      And    in  his  study  of  the 


THE  COIvI^EGIAN.  43 

Scriptures,  this  feeling^  was  deepened  to  a  pas- 
sion. 

And,  verily,  even  in  this  world,  her  kind- 
ness to  that  Jew  bore  fruit.  Her  son  might 
have  carried  off  the  contents  of  that  Cincinnati 
store,  had  he  desired  to. 

STRANGE  CITY  SIGHTS. 

The  strain  on  the  exchequer  having  been 
hghtened,  the  young  man  determined  to  see 
the  sights. 

He  had  never  traveled,  and  the  first 
glimpse  of  the  Ohio  river  awed  him,  he  used 
to  say.  It  was  an  ocean,  almost,  compared  to 
his  Tennessee  rivers. 

The  market,  too,  fascinated  him.  But  he 
was  astounded  by  the  'iadies  he  saw  there." 
He  wrote  home  that  he  thought  Cincinnati  must 
have  "the  homeliest  lot  of  women  in  the  world!" 
The  simple-hearted  country  lad  had  mistaken 
the  stall-keepers  for  wives  of  prominent  citi- 
zens! (At  his  home  the  "quality"  ladies  all 
went  to  market,  with  a  colored  boy  and  a  bas- 
ket.) 

At  length  Dr.  Rice  returned.  A  pleas- 
ant interview  was  held.  The  minister  at  once 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  young  man — as 
did  all  who  met  the  tall,  remarkably  handsome, 
intellectual-looking  Tennesseean — and  began 


44  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

to  Strongly  urge  him  to  go  to  Miami  Univer- 
sity at  Oxford,  Ohio,  instead  of  Princeton. 
What  arguments  were  used  are  not  known. 
But  the  result  was,  that  Brookes  took  the  stage 
coach  for  Miami,  "to  look  it  over,  anyhow," 
before  starting  for  the  New  Jersey  seat  of 
learning. 

The  beautiful  campus  and  the  scholarly 
atmosphere  of  Miami,  together  with  his  pleas- 
ant reception  from  the  President,  Dr.  W.  C. 
Anderson,  very  favorably  impressed  him.  He 
decided  to  secure  there  his  longed-for,  strug- 
gled-for,  saved-for,  and  now  finally  opening 
college  education. 

Another  turning-point  in  the  highway  of 
his  life  had  been  reached. 

So  thorough  a  preparation  had  the  young 
student  given  himself,  and  so  able  was  he,  that 
he  successfully  passed  an  examination  which 
admitted  him  at  once  to  Junior  year  classes. 
Recognizing  that  time  was  short  and  that  he 
had  been  "handicapped" — to  borrow  the  one 
fitting  word — by  poverty  and  circumstances 
that  would  have  long  since  discouraged  others, 
he  hastened  matters.  So  he  "experienced" 
Freshman  and  Sophomore  years  by  means  of 
examinations  which  occupied  a  few  hours. 

Thus  he  "caught  up"  with  time,  and  con- 


THE   COIvLKGlAN.  45 

quered  circumstances.  A  lesson  of  encourage- 
ment to  ambitious  young  men  of  all  ages  and 
countries  is  to  be  found  in  this  plain  statement 
of  facts  of  the  college  career  of  the  great  man. 

He  clearly  recognized  that  he  must  *'hus- 
band  his  resources,"  and  live  cheaply.  As 
was  often  the  custom  in  those  early  days,  he 
began  to  "batch  it,"  i.  e.,  he  cooked  his  own 
food— what  little  there  was  of  it — and  was 
his  own  housekeeper. 

Often  he  lived,  literally,  on  bread  and  wa- 
ter. It  was  not  his  poverty  alone  that  led  to 
such  a  regimen,  but  partly  through  a  natural 
dislike  for  culinary  pursuits  and  the  unpleasant 
''washing  of  dishes,"  which  would  necessarily 
follow. 

Finally,  his  splendid  physique  must  have 
shown  signs  of  his  improper  dietery.  An  in- 
fluential friend  came  to  the  student  and  made 
such  a  vehement  argument  against  his  contin- 
uing in  that  mode  of  life  which  was  endanger- 
ing his  constitution — and  thereby  his  future 
usefulness — that  some  arrangement  was  soon 
made  by  which  Brookes  gave  up  his  ''batch- 
ing," and  took  his  meals  in  the  college  refec- 
tory. 

There  was,  it  is  believed,  one,  only  one 
(and  the  accent  should  be  placed  on    "only,") 


46  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:     A    MEMOIR. 

attempt  to  '*haze"  the  stalwart  young  South- 
erner. And  a  sorry  "hazing-bee"  was  that. 
The  conspirators  were  most  decidedly  hoisted 
by  their  own  "petard." 

One  night,  while  Brookes  was  studying  in 
his  room,  two  of  the  upper  classmen  unwisely 
decided  to  "haze"  him.  But  the  first  thing 
they  knew,  he  had  their  respective  heads  un- 
der his  strong  arms,  and  they  were  being 
dragged,  protesting  and  kicking  in  vain,  to  the 
nearest  pump.  There,  each  was  soused. 
Hazing  operations  on  the  new  Junior  from 
Tennessee  stopped  then  and  there — according 
to  all  information  obtainable — with  a  sudden 
jolt. 

Soon  he  met  Miss  Susan  Oliver,  the  ex- 
ceptionally beautiful  and  gifted  daughter  of  Dr. 
Oliver,  a  retired  Ohio  physician  of  prominence, 
who  had  removed  to  Oxford  for  the  purpose 
of  educating  his  children  at  the  college  and 
seminaries  there.  Providence  seemed  clearly 
to  have  brought  this  removal  about. 

The  decision  as  to  whether  the  family 
should  go  to  Cincinnati,  or  to  Oxford,  was 
practically  left  to  Miss  Susan,  a  ruling  spirit  in 
the  household.  Naturally,  a  young  lady  who 
had  finished  her  education,  and  who,  because  of 
her  remarkable  beauty  and  gifts,  might  have 


THE   COLIyEGIAN.  47 

shone  in  society  circles  of  any  city,  anywhere, 
would  have  chosen  to  go  to  Cincinnati.  Such 
a  choice  ninety  nine  young  ladies  out  of  a 
hundred,  in  similar  circumstances,  would  have 
made. 

But  she  was  the  one-hundredth — then,  as 
all  through  her  life.  With  the  rare  unselfish- 
ness that  has  always  sunk  herself  and  her  nat- 
ural inclinations,  she  urged  her  parents  for 
the  sake  of  the  younger  children  (who  could 
then  be  properly  educated  and  at  the  same 
time  enjoy  their  home) — to  go  to  Oxford. 

And  soon,  no  doubt,  it  might  be  added, 
she  was  very  glad  that  she  had  made  that  de- 
cision. 

THE  LOVERS  MET. 

The  first  glimpse  James  H.  Brookes  had 
of  the  girl  who  was  predestined  to  be  Mrs. 
James  H.  Brookes,  was  under  decidedly  thrill- 
ing circumstances. 

A  gentle  stream  had  become,  suddenly,  a 
raging  torrent,  and  through  that  stream  Miss 
Oliver,  an  expert  horsewoman,  was  riding. 
There  was  danger  that  the  animal  and  its 
fair  burden  might  any  moment  be  swept  away, 
but  the  young  lady  was  bent  upon  fording 
that  stream  then  and  there— and  ford  it  she 
did. 


48  JAMES    H.    BROOKEvS:      A    MEMOIR. 

She  knew  it  not,  but  near  by  a  handsome 
collegian  was  watching  her  with  intense  inter- 
est. From  that  time  she  had  an  ardent  suitor. 
A  near  relative  of  Miss  Oliver's  desired  to 
know  something  of  the  young  suitor's  family, 
naturally.  Told  of  it,  the  lover  said:  "Tell 
him  that  most  of  my  ancestry  have  gone  to 
the  skies." 

A  classmate's  recollections. 
Rev.  Dr.    Thomas  Fullerton,  of   Cincin- 
nati, a  college  classmate  of  Dr.   Brookes',  thus 
wrote    under  date  of  September  i,  1897: 

''What  I  recall  most  readily  of  Brookes 
as  he  was  forty-five  years  ago,  is  the  mingling 
of  elements  in  his  nature  which  made  him  so 
dear  to  us. 

''What  he  was  in  after  life  he  was  in  col- 
lege. 

•'He  was  mature  when  he  came  to  Ox- 
ford— I  think  the  oldest  man  of  our  class  ex- 
cept McMillan.  He  had  passed  through 
varied  experiences,  and  knew  human  nature. 
He  had  some  acquaintance  with  literature.  (I 
wonder  if  he  always  delighted  in  Longfellow 
as  he  did  in  1852!)  His  mind  was  active  and 
vigorous.  He  was  a  model  of  manly  strength 
and  beauty.  He  was  naturally  eloquent.  He 
had  a  rich  humor.     He  did  not  laugh  loud  him- 


THE   COLLEGIAN.  49 

self,  but  liked  to  make  others  laugh  till  the 
halls  rar-g. 

''I  well  remember  some  of  his  grood  stor- 
ies.  I  try  at  times  to  repeat  them.  But  they 
are  not  droll  on  my  lips,  as  they   were  on  his. 

''He  was  a  leader;  I  may  say  the  leader 
of  the  college.  No  other  man  had  such  a  fol- 
lowing. It  was  not  because  he  sought  to  be 
the  head.  There  was  no  trace  in  him  of  the 
school  demagogue,  nothing  of  a  'Steerforth' 
nature.  (I  may  say  in  passing  that  I  can  recall 
his  enjoyment  of  David  Copperfield,  which  we 
read  at  the  same  time.) 

'"He  was,  I  repeat,  the  leader  of  the  col- 
lege. Yet,  among  his  contemporaries  were 
David  Swing,  Harmer  Denny,  Milton  Saylor, 
Benjamin  Harrison,  and  among  the  younger 
men  Whitelaw  Reid,  Henry  (now  Chancellor) 
McCracken,  and  other  brilliant  stars. 

*'It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  give  names 
from  our  own  class.  Alas!  the  most  promis- 
ing among  them  were  soon  to  be  read  on  grave- 
stones: Hibben,  Holmes,  Lowe,  Carson, 
McNair,  Ustick,  McNutt — how  early  they 
finished  their  race!  We  who  linger,  remember 
them  with  admiration,  and  shaking  our  grey 
heads  say:   Ah!   if  they  had  lived,  the   class  of 


50  JAMEvS    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

1853  would  have  been  heard  from!  But 
Brookes  led  all  these. 

"Not,  perhaps,  in  scholarship,  though  he 
was  a  faithful  student.  But  in  the  gifts  which 
make  men  forces  and  foremost.  He  was  our 
Captain  and  we  were  proud  of  him. 

"The  more  so,  because  he  was  a  man  of 
God.  The  man  of  God  is  himself  humble. 
But  others  may  be  proud  of  him  with  thank- 
ful glorying.  Brookes'  piety  was  deep.  No 
one  would  have  dared  to  whisper  a  doubt  of  it. 
There  was  no  cant  in  him.  At  times  despon- 
dent— a  remarkable  thing  in  one  so  sane  in 
mind  and  body — he  never  put  on  a  long  face 
for  appearance  sake;  never  spoke  unreal 
words." 


At  Princeton  Seminary. 


Dr.  Brookes  as  a  Young  Man. 

[Rejiwducedfroin  an  old  Dagnentoiype.) 


CHAPTER  IV. 
AT  PRINCETON  SEMINARY. 

Tames  H.  Brookes,  B.  A.,  arrived  at  Prince- 
^^  ton  Seminary  with  ninety-six  cents  in 
his  pocket.  But  he  was  there  to  com- 
plete his  theological  training — the  call  ''woe  is 
me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel"  ringing  in  his 
ears — and  finish  it  he  did. 

He  secured  a  loan  of  fifty  dollars  from  a 
relative  in  Baltimore,  and  proceeded  to  fit  up 
his  room— with  a  fivG  dollar  bill.  (He  was 
never  an  aid-receiver  from  any  individual  or 
any  Church  Board  of  Education.) 

He  secured  a  room,  in  the  basement  of 
one  of  the  dormitories,  so  undesirable  as  to  be 
given  free  to  needy  students.  It  was  a  sec- 
tion fittingly  dubbed  "The  Tombs."  With 
the  five  dollar  bill  mentioned  he  bought  some 
meagre  second-hand  furniture.  Then  he  se- 
cured board  in  the  refectory. 

Between  the  unhealthy  bed  room  and  a 
limited  dietary,  Brookes  was  metamorphosed 


54  JAMEvS    H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR. 

from  a  sturdy,  ruddy  young  giant  into  a  pale, 
wasted  cleric;  and  all  in  a  few  months.  But 
for  the  kind  ministrations  of  a  quaint  old  negro 
woman,  "Aunt  Betsey,"  who  forced  upon  him 
many  a  basket  of  good  food,  daintily  prepared, 
he  used  to  say  that  he  could  hardly  have  lived 
through  those  few  months  in  New  Jersey. 

He  came  to  know  "Aunt  Betsey"  through 
a  Sunday-school  for  negroes,  which  he  imme- 
diately sought  out  and  thereafter  regularly 
taught  in.  He  "understood"  negroes,  and 
they  loved  him,  there,  at  Oxford,  St.  Louis 
and  everywhere  else.  This  "Aunty"  referred 
to  was  a  character,  and  deserves  mention  in 
view  of  what  she  did  for  Dr.  Brookes.  She 
was  very  intelligent  and  had  spent  much  of 
her  life  as  a  missionary  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  She  had  been  a  slave  of  Admiral 
Stockton's.  Dr.  Brookes  always  said  that  she 
"saved  his  life,"  and  her  picture  was  carefully 
preserved  in  his  study. 

HIS  MUSCULAR  CHRISTIANITY. 

In  connection  with  the  foregoing  refer- 
ence to  his  labors  among  the  Princeton  negroes, 
a  fellow  seminary  student,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  C. 
Galbraith,  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  wrote  in  Sep- 
tember, 1897,  for  this  book,  a  very  amusing  bit 
of  memorabilia,  which  is  here  quoted: 


AT    PRINCETON   SEMINARY.  55 

''When  he  went  to  Princeton  the  student 
who  had  been  looking  after  the  Sunday-school 
in  the  colored  Presbyterian  Church  had  not 
yet  arrived,  and  by  some  lucky  happening 
Brookes  was  invited  to  superintend  the  school 
and  preach  to  the  congregation,  on  the  first 
Sunday  after  his  arrival. 

"In  the  school  a  little  boy  was  making 
some  confusion  when  Mr.  Brookes  said,  'Boy, 
you  must  behave  yourself,  or  I'll    spank    you!' 

"This  was  amusing  to  the  boy,  and  to  the 
whole  school;  such  a  thing  as  spanking  a  boy 
in  Sunday-school  being  an  unheard-of  thing. 

*'The  boy  grew  more  demonstrative  and 
Mr.  Brookes  walked  down,  turned  him  over 
his  knee  and  convinced  the  whole  school  that 
he  had  meant  what  he  said.  He  certainly  did 
what  he  had  threatened. 

"After  school  he  preached,  and  captured 
the  congregation  with  the  sermon,  as  he  had 
the  school  boy  with  the  spanking,  and  so  long 
as  he  remained  at  Princeton,  the  colored  peo- 
ple wanted  no  other  preacher. 

"As  we  know,  he  proved  when  he  went 
out  to  work  that  he  could  as  easily  interest  and 
profit  men  of  vastly  greater  culture  and  promi- 
nence.     He  was  a  good  steward  of  the   mani- 


56  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

fold   grace   of  God, — 'a  householder  bringing 
forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old.'  " 

In  the  Junior  year  at  Miami,  Mr.  Brookes 
began  his  theological  training  by  combining 
his  college  work  with  the  regular  course  at  the 
United  Presbyterian  Seminary  at  Oxford.  He 
was  abundantly  able  to  do  the  double  work. 
Dr.  Claybaugh,  the  professor  who  chiefly  in- 
structed him,  was  considered  one  of  the  finest 
scholars  in  his  church. 

He  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  summer's 
vacation  following  his  graduation,  at  Prince- 
ton; going  there  a  few  weeks  after  receiving 
his  degree.  A  short  summer  trip  intervened; 
a  trip  which  cost  much  more  than  was  antici- 
pated, and  which  led  up  to  the  ninety-six  cents 
condition  of  things. 

Of  his  daily  life  at  Princeton,  his  favorite 
studies,  his  friends,  his  mode  of  recreation;  of 
all  such  there  is,  unfortunately,  no  record  at 
hand.  But  it  is  the  man  we  are  studying, 
and  from  his  own  lips  are  recorded  events  of 
those  days  which  show  clearly  the  under-strata 
of  his  make-up;  inclinations,  feelings  and  sen- 
timents which  can  be  traced  out  in  later  years 
of  Christian  activity. 


AT    PRINCETON    SEMINARY.  57 

HIS  VIEWS  ON  STUDENT  AID. 

Brookes  had  a  friend  at  the  Seminary  who 
was  always  exceptionally  well  dressed,  and  the 
occupant  of  a  luxurious  room.  The  youn<^ 
Tennesseean  naturally  supposed  his  friend  to  be 
the  scion  of  some  wealthy  family,  judging  from 
the  appearance  of  things. 

This  supposedly  wealthy  young  man  re- 
monstrated, one  day,  concerning  Brookes'  cel- 
lar-like room. 

"Why  don't  you  have  a  better  room  than 
this?"  inquired  the  friend. 

"It  is  as  good  a  room  as  I  can  afford," 
answered  Brookes. 

"Then  why  don't  you  ask  the  Board  of 
Education  for  aid. '^    They  give  me  help." 

Brookes  was  dumbfounded.  It  was  the 
Board,  then,  that  helped  to  pay  for  those  natty 
clothes,  and  that  handsomely-furnished    room. 

"I  intend  to  go  through  on  my  own  re- 
sources," replied  Brookes,  "or  I  won't  go 
through  at  all."  This  was  said  frankly,  but 
with  no  criticism  of  the  views  of  the  other.  He 
then  went  on  to  explain  his  ideas  on  "student 
aid." 

He  believed  that  the  student  of  push  and 
"gumption"  would  find  a  way,  as  he  did;  if  the 
way  seemed  too  hard  to  find,  and   the  student 


58  JAMES    H.    BROOKKS:      A    MEMOIR. 

was  unwilling  to  toil  for  an  education  to  fit  him 
for  the  ministry,  then  the  church  would  be 
the  better  off  without  the  services  of  such  a 
man. 

He  recognized  that  there  were  excep- 
tions, of  course;  and  he  would  not  quarrel 
with  any  one  who  gave  aid  or  took  aid.  But, 
on  principle,  he  was  against  student  aid. 

He  was  often  an  outspoken  critic  against 
the  luxury  of  too  many  of  the  American  Theo- 
logical seminaries.  He  held  that  they  did  not 
train  men  to  battle  in  struggling  fields.  Un- 
questionably, his  Princeton  experiences  led  to 
that  belief.  Yet  in  the  kindness  of  his  heart 
he  could  wish  no  theologue  to  be  driven  to  a 
basement  room.  It  was  the  happy  mean  he 
advocated. 

In  this  belief  he  has  been  upheld  by  many 
ministers  and  laymen.  There  is,  today,  a  cry 
that  the  seminary  graduates  hang  back,  in  too 
many  instances,  from  the  hard  pioneer  posts. 
They  want  established  churches.  The  style 
of  seminary  living,  these  critics  assert,  has 
much  to  do  with  such  a  state  of  things.  Dr. 
Brookes  simply  antedated,  by  many  years,  such 
in  their  views. 

He  also  held  that  the  Theological  semi- 
naries did  not  make    enough    of  the    English 


AT   PRINCETON  SEMINARY.  59 

Bible.  He,  the  English  Bible's  Champion, 
often  spoke  out  and  spared  not  when  discuss- 
ing that  point.  He  said  the  average  seminary 
graduate  "knew  too  much  about  the  Bible,  but 
not  enough  of  the  Bible."  He  may  not  always 
have  pleased  men  in  so  speaking.  But  that 
made  not  the  most  infinitesimal  difference  to 
him.      He  was  speaking  his  convictions. 

To  revert  to  the  subject  of  student  aid,  it 
can  be  truthfully  said,  that  all  young  Brookes 
needed  to  do  was  to  make  a  simple  request  to 
the  Board,  and  aid  would  have  been  forthcom- 
ing. He  really  needed  help.  His  poverty, 
and  mean  quarters,  almost  ruined  his  health. 
His  was  certainly  one  of  those  exceptionally 
deserving  cases.  But  he  fought  it  out  alone 
for  ten  months  in  "The  Tombs,"  and  paid 
that  borrowed  $50  back,  out  of  the  first  quar- 
ter's salary  as  a  settled  pastor. 

By  the  fellow  seminary  student,  already 
quoted  in  this  chapter,  the  following  testimony 
was  written: 

** James  H.  Brookes  was  an  independent, 
generous,  noble,  high-minded  gentleman,  with 
manners  so  naturally  easy,  and  with  such 
kindly  feeling,  that  I  was  attracted  to  him  at 
once,  and  found  it  a  most  easy  lesson  to  learn 
to  love  him. 


60  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:       A    MEMOIR. 

''He  hated  all  pretense  and  sham;  saw  most 
clearly  what  he  did  see;  was  very  certain  that 
he  was  right.  Often,  to  hear  him  speak  of 
those  who  did  not  agree  with  him,  one  might 
suppose  him  harsh  and  unloving.  But  those 
that  knew  him  well  did  know  that,  having  the 
strength  of  a  man,  he  had  also  the  tenderness 
and  love  of  a  woman;  a  love  that  drew  him  to 
his  friends  and  held  him  to  them  even  though 
he  miofht  know  much  of  their  unworthiness. 
They  were  his  friends,  and  that  made  atone- 
ment for  much.  He  stuck  to  them  through 
evil  or  good  report. 

"He  was  impulsive  in  thought  and  action;  a 
friend  of  the  poor,  a  helper  of  the  oppressed; 
ready  to  work  where  he  saw  that  work  was 
needed,  and  in  such  cheerful,  hearty  manner, 
that  the  most  suspicious  could  see  no  trace  of 
condescension  on  his  part,  or  ever  thought  of 
accusing  him  of  a  patronizing  air." 

THE    YOUNG    ICONOCLAST. 

While  at  the  seminary  he  stormed  in- 
wardly against  the  cut  of  the  average  theo- 
logue's  coat;  his  white  necktie;  his  "holy  tone." 

All  that  smacked  of  churchly  professional- 
ism he  loathed.  As  a  relief,  he  frequently 
stuck  his  trowsers  mto  his  boots  and  paraded  Pi'inceton''  s 


AT   PRINCKTON   SEMINARY.  61 

streets.     (His  own  words  are  the  authority    for 
this  statement.) 

That  was  his  silent  protest  against  embry- 
onic clericaHsm. 

How  he  must  have  shocked  some  of 
those  dapper  Httle  theologues!  They  doubtless 
pointed  a  finger  of  scorn  at  the  brusque  young 
Southerner,  and  shaking  their  locks  over  him, 
predicted  his  dire  end. 

But  what  of  the  record  of  that  Southerner 
they  criticised? 

It  is  easy  to  trace  the  dislike  which  Dr. 
Brookes  always  had,  and  always  showed,  for 
ministerial  uniforms  and  clerical  "favors,"  back 
to  those  days.  Others  might  use  all  such; 
many  of  his  respected  confreres  did  so.  He 
did  not  judge  them.  But  as  for  him — he  was 
through  life  the  Tennesseean  who  tucked  his 
trowsers  into  his  boots,  for  a  protest. 

And  it  was,  in  part,  because  he  was  such 
a  man  among  men,  that  he  had  the  tremendous 
influence  he  did  over  "all  sorts  and  conditions" 
of  them.  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  that. 
The  farmer,  the  dry  goods  clerk,  the  school 
teacher,  the  census-taker — Dr.  Brookes  had 
worked  faithfully  as  each.  He  had  been  a 
graduate  in  the  College  of  Life  and  sat  in 
many  of  its  post-graduate  clashes,    A  profound 


62  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

Study  of  human  nature  had  followed,  of  neces- 
sity. 

He  did  not  look  out  on  life,  and  the  strug- 
gle in  men's  minds  and  souls,  in  the  bland  man- 
ner of  the  typical  young  scholastic  who  goes 
direct  from  his  seven  years  of  book  study  into 
his  pulpit;  then  to  learn,  from  bitter  experi- 
ences often,  to  know  men  and  things — if  ever 
he  does  learn. 

Dr.  Brookes  had  studied  men  first,  and  theol- 
ogy afterwards. 

And  it  might  be  said,  in  passing,  that  no 
one  ever  heard  him  deliver  a  "discourse"  on 
the  ''nobility  of  man."  His  firm  belief  was 
that  man  was  "a  poor  critter,"  to  use  the 
homely  phrase. 

One  day,  in  later  life,  a  learned  guest 
asked  Dr.  Brookes  if  he  did  not  think  that 
''self-esteem  was  a  most  noble  attribute  of  the 
human  mind?" 

"Do  you  really  want  to  know  what  I  think 
of  self-esteem,  and  of  man?"  responded  Dr. 
Brookes. 

"Yes." 

"Well,  ril  tell  you.  I  think  man  ought 
to  have  a  third  leg,  to  kick  himself  over  Crea- 
tion with." 


The  Settled  Pastor, 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  SETTLED  PASTOR. 

Y^^RESiDENT  Anderson,  of  Miami  University, 
1^-^  brought  the  name  of  the  young  Timothy, 
James  H.  Brookes,  before  the  session 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Dayton, 
Ohio,  when  the  pulpit  of  it  was  vacant  through 
the  resignation  of  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley.  A  special 
meeting  of  the  Presbytery  was  called  to  grant 
the  necessary  license  to  preach. 

He  evidently  pleased  his  Dayton  hearers 
greatly,  for,  after  two  sermons,  the  young  man 
received  an  unanimous  call  from  that  strong 
and  influential  church. 

He  then  gave  a  striking  example  of  a 
noted  characteristic:  his  power  to  quickly  de- 
cide on  a  course  of  action.  For,  within  one 
week,  he  was  ordained,  installed  and — married. 
Miss  Susan  Oliver  became  Mrs.  James  H. 
Brookes,  at  her  home  in  Oxford,  on  May  2, 
1854.     The   honeymoon   was    spent    in   Ten- 

65 


66  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

nessee.     A  month  later,  the  young  couple  took 
up  their  life  together  at  Dayton. 

The  work  of  the  young  pastor,  begun  un- 
der such  auspicious  circumstances,  was  most 
successful.  Soon  every  seat  in  the  church 
auditorium  was  filled  and  there  was  a  crying 
need  for  a  larger  buildmg.  Without  seeking 
the  slightest  particle  of  publicity,  the  work  of 
the  preacher  attracted  attention  from  an  ever- 
enlarging  circle. 

FROM    A    FELLOW    PASTOR,    OF    DAYTON. 

Rev.  Dr.  James  S.  Kemper,  now  in  his 
83rd  year,  was  a  fellow  pastor  and  neighbor  of 
Dr.  Brookes  at  Dayton.  He  moderated  the 
congregational  meeting  of  the  First  church, 
which  unanimously  called  Dr.  Brookes. 

A  warm  intimacy  sprang  up  between  them, 
which  never  cooled.  Not  long  before  Dr. 
Brookes'  death,  letters  full  of  affection  passed 
between  them.  Dr.  Kemper  had  baptized  the 
oldest  daughter  of  his  friend,  Etta  Olive 
Brookes,  who  died,  a  beautiful  girl  of  rare 
promise,  in  her  sixteenth  year. 

Dr.  Kemper  has  shown  his  kindly  interest 
in  this  collection  of  memorabilia,  by  sending 
the  following  letter  from  Dayton.  It  is  full  of 
historical  facts  of  interest;  and  it  also  paints  a 
striking  portrait  of  the  young  pastor. 


THE   SETTLED   PASTOR.  67 

**In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1854,"  writes 
Dr.  Kemper,  ''Rev.  P.  D.  Gurley,  D.  D.,  the 
able  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  after  at  first 
declining,  eventually  accepted  a  call  and  re- 
moved to  Washington  City.  The  best  peo- 
ple he  left  in  the  church  were  in  dismay. 
Many  said  their  church  was  undone,  and  could 
never  recover  from  its  loss. 

"A  young  man  from  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  had, 
the  year  before,  pursued  the  studies  of  the 
Senior  year  in  Miami  University^  at  Oxford, 
Ohio,  while  studying  theology  under  Dr. 
Claybaugh,  a  professor  of  theology  there,  in 
the  United  Presbyterian  Seminary.  On  grad- 
uating, he  had  gone  to  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary;  had  been  there  five  months.  He 
was  heard  of  by  the  Dayton  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  asked  to  visit  and  preach  to 
the  people,  which  he  did. 

When — within  two  weeks  after  Dr.  Gur- 
ley's  removal — the  congregation,  and  more  or 
less  the  town,  was  saying  the  church's  loss 
was  irreparable,  Mr.  James  H.  Brookes  was 
unanimously  called  to  be  the  pastor,  by  the 
largest  congregational  meeting  ever  held  in 
the  church,  and  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm. 

**The  writer  of  these  lines  moderated  the 


68  JAMES    H.    BROOKKS:       A    MEMOIR. 

congregational  meeting  that  voted  the  call, 
and  knows;  he  is  not  writing  on  report,  or  at 
random. 

"The  congregational  attendance  was 
materially  increased  from  the  start,  and  so  con- 
tinued. Members  of  the  Session,  gray-haired 
men,  who  had  become  so  in  the  eldership,  were 
heard  saying  that  they  had  secured  a  pastor 
'who  was  to  be  the  first  man  in  the  church.' 

"The  call  was  presented  to  Miami  Pres- 
bytery in  April,  1854,  at  Monroe,  Ohio.  By 
that  body,  it  was  presented  to  Mr.  Brookes, 
already  a  licentiate,  and  accepted  by  hirn.  He 
preached  his  trial  sermon,  was  ordained,  and 
arrangements  were  made  which  in  due  time 
culminated  in  his  installment  as  pastor  of  the 
First,  then  the  oldest  and  largest,  Presbyterian 
church  in  Dayton. 

"Mr.  Brookes  was  a  positive  man  from 
the  first,  and  a  positive  Presbyterian.  He 
was  earnest  to  win  souls.  As  far  as  this  writ- 
er knows,  the  harshest  things  he  ever  said  in 
the  pulpit  were  in  impatience  with  obdurate 
neglecters  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Gospel.  It 
is  simple  truth  to  say  that  he  faithfully  labored 
on  in  Dayton,  honored  and  beloved,  until 
ICS57;  when,  called  to  St.  Louis,  he  was  with 
sincere    regret  released.       Since   then,    there 


THK   SETTI.KD    PASTOR.  69 

has  been  his  field,  and  others  will  tell  of  his 
work.  His  record  is  on  high,  and  now  he 
knows  even  as  he  is  known. 

^'His  (probably)  last  photograph,  sent  by 
special  solicitation,  stands  over  the  writer's 
desk;  the  same  face  known  and  loved  for  more 
than  forty  years." 

A    PASTORAL    INCIDENT. 

An  interesting  incident  of  the  experience 
at  Dayton  naturally  comes  to  mind  here;  it 
was  an  anecdote  of  the  Dr.  Brookes  of  later 
life. 

There  had  been  some  trivial  trouble  be- 
tween the  volunteer  choir  and  certain  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation.  Feelings  had  been 
sorely  ruffled,  and  the  choir— ^'struck,"  liter- 
ally. With  woebegone  faces  came  some  of 
the  church  officers  to  their  pastor's  study  for  a 
"council  of  war." 

''Oh,  is  that  all.^"  said  he.  ''Then  never 
mind.  If  the  choir  refuses  to  sing,  I  will  lead 
myself!" 

And  lead  he  did,  the  next  Sunday,  and 
thereafter,  in  clear,  strong  tones,  till  new  choir 
arrangements  were  made.  Some  of  the  old- 
fashioned  members  said  the  singing  had  never 
been  so  hearty  and  so  satisfactory  to  them  as 
when  the  young  pastor  "led  off." 


70  JAMKS    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

CALLED    TO    LOUISVILLE. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  a  city  of  Day- 
ton's size  could  not  long  hold  James  H. 
Brookes  as  its  own.  Very  soon  a  flattering 
call  from  a  large  Presbyterian  church  of  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  came. 

Against  the  acceptance  of  this  invitation 
the  Dayton  congregation  arose  in  its  might. 
Their  pastor's  announcement  of  the  call  to 
leave  them,  and  his  doubtful  state  of  mind  as 
to  what  was  his  duty,  has  fortunately  been 
found. 

It  shows  clearly  the  remarkable  growth  of 
this  first  charge  of  the  young  pastor's;  having 
every  pew  filled,  and  other  worshipers  seeking 
entrance.  But  it  is,  moreover,  worthy  of  study 
as  a  striking  presentation  of  the  thoughts  of  a 
conscientious  minister  concerning  a  call  to  him, 
a  settled,  successful  pastor,  to  become  the 
head  of  another  church.  It  might  well  have 
been  published,  years  ago,  as  a  "Treatise  on 
Calls,"  to  be  read  by  all  ministers  and  congre- 
gations. 

Selections  from  this  pastoral  letter  of 
August  5,  1857,  follow: 

''To  the  congregation  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church: 

"You  have  met  to-day  to  decide  the  ques- 


THE   SETTI.ED   PASTOR.  71 

tion,  whether  you  will  consent  to  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  relation  now  existing  between  us 
as  pastor  and  people. 

*'You  not  only  have  a  right  to  your  own 
opinions,  as  Presbyterians,  and  a  right  to  ex- 
press those  opinions  freely;  but  you  are  re- 
sponsible to  God,  for  the  decision  you  now 
make,  and  you  are  under  the  most  solemn 
obligations  to  view  the  whole  matter  simply 
and  solely  as  a  question  of  duty.  I  hold  that 
no  minister  is  justifiable  in  trampling  down  the 
affection,  the  hopes,  and  judgment  of  his  peo- 
ple, in  order  to  carry  out  his  convictions  of 
duty,  unless  those  convictions  are  so  clear  and 
profound,  that  nothing  whatever  can  change 
them;  and  unless  it  were  a  more  manifest 
wrong  to  disobey  his  own  sense  of  what  he 
should  do,  than  to  come  in  conflict  with  their 
calm,  thoughtful,  well-matured  views  of  what 
duty  demands  at  his  hands. 

''If  circumstances  are  such  that  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  leaving  a  charge  are  over- 
whelming to  his  own  mind,  and  if  his  people 
cannot  place  themselves  in  a  position  where 
they,  too,  may  weigh  the  arguments^where 
the  light  he  has  cannot  reach  them— he  is,  of 
course,  obliged  to  consult  only  his  convictions. 
But  if  all,  or  most,  of  the  facts  in  the  case  are 


72  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

within  their  reach,  he  is  not  a  true  Presby- 
terian if  he  ignores  their  right  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  correctness  of  his  conclusion,  or  the 
propriety  of  his  contemplated  proceeding. 

"Light,  free  light,  from  the  Throne  of 
God,  is  what  both  parties  should  earnestly 
strive  and  pray  to  obtain.  The  people,  under 
God,  are  the  source  of  power  and  the  final 
court  of  appeal  in  our  Church,  as  much  as  they 
are  in  a  Republican  or  Democratic  civil  gov- 
ernment. No  spiritual  despot  can  consult  his 
own  will,  and  require  them  silently  to  acquiesce 
in  his  decisions.  No  Presbyterian  minister 
has  breathed  in  the  Spirit  of  his  Church  who 
will,  except  in  the  most  extraordinary  case,  set 
up  his  own  judgment  as  infallible  and  utterly 
beyond  the  influence  of  the  feelings,  the  de- 
sires, and  the  opinions  of  his  people. 

"No  pastor  has  a  right  to  ask  a  congrega- 
tion to  consent  to  a  dissolution  of  the  relation 
existing  between  them  on  the  ground,  alone, 
that  he  so  wishes  it.  He  is  bound  to  act  with 
reference  to  the  glory  of  Christ,  the  best  inter- 
ests of  His  Kingdom  and  the  good  of  souls,  as 
these  high  ends  appear  to  his  mind;  they  are 
bound  to  act  with  the  same  grand  objects,  as 
they  shall  appear  to  their  minds. 

"He  is  answerable,  at  the  bar  of  God,  for 


THE   SETTLED   PASTOR.  73 

the  conclusion  to  which  he  comes.  They  are 
answerable  for  the  manner  in  v^hich  they  treat 
those  conclusions,  and  for  their  own  convic- 
tions, whether  they  conflict  with  his  or  not — for 
their  own  decisions,  whether  they  chime  with 
his  or  not. 

''What  do  the  interests  of  Christ's  Kingr- 
dom  demand  of  us,  in  our  present  posture?  If 
you  believe  that  those  interests  will  be  better 
secured  by  the  removal  of  your  pastor  to 
Louisville,  you  must  have  the  nobleness  and 
Christian  spirit  to  give  him  up,  even  if  the  sep- 
aration should  painfully  tear  asunder  precious 
ties,  and  wound  bleeding,  affectionate  hearts. 
I  have  confidence  in  you  to  think  that  you  will 
make  the  sacrifice,  if  need  be,  for  Jesus'  sake, 
and  that  your  willingness  to  do  what  will  ad- 
vance His  Kingdom,  shall  call  down  upon  you 
a  blessing  that  will  richly  compensate  for  any 
pain  you  may  feel  in  consenting  to  break  up  a 
mutually  tender  and  pleasant  relation.  If,  how- 
ever, you  do  not  believe  that  my  removal  will 
be  for  the  interest  of  the  church,  as  a  whole, 
you  are  under  imperative  obligation  to  say  so, 
even  if  I  desired  to  make  the  removal.  But 
it  is  needless  to  assure  you  that  I  have  no  such 
desire  in  itself  considered;  that  I  have  no  wish 


74  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:    AMEMOIR. 

to  leave  you,  save  the  wish  that  springs    from 
a  sense  of  duty. 

"Let  me  briefly  lay  the  facts  before  you 
that  have  produced  the  conviction,  in  my  mind, 
that  I  am  called  in  the  Providence  of  God  to 
leave  you,  and  labor  in  another  part  of  His 
vineyard. 

"First,  then,  I  have  feared  that  my  work 
here  is  almost  done.  I  have  reached  almost 
all  that  I  can  hope  to  reach,  without  enlarged 
means  of  usefulness.  Already  fully  one  hun- 
dred families  are  crowded  in  some  seventy 
pews,  and,  as  the  Trustees  inform  me,  two- 
thirds  of  these  pews  are  occupied  by  two,  and 
very  often  by  three,  families.  Room  for  other 
families  that  wish  to  attend  our  church,  room 
for  strangers,  room  to  receive  those  who  might 
with  little  effort  be  induced  to  put  themselves 
within  reach  of  the  means  of  grace,  room  for 
God's  poor,  room  for  the  perishing  in  the 
streets  and  lanes  of  the  city,  is  exceedingly 
hard  to  obtain,  if  not  almost  wholly  out  of  the 
question. 

"As  a  natural  result  of  this  state  of  things, 
the  members  of  my  church  do  not  and  cannot 
exert  themselves  to  secure  continued  growth, 
to  bring  others  within  the  sound  of  the  Gospel, 


THE   SETTLED   PASTOR.  75 

and  to  see  to  it  that  all  the  flock  are  gath- 
ered in. 

"That  field  is  a  large  and  important  one. 
The  room  for  growth  is  unlimited,  and  with 
God's  blessing,  we  may  reasonably  expect  im- 
mense good  to  be  achieved  by  faithful  labor. 

"Dayton  has  my  heart,  but  the  treasure 
seems  to  be  in  Louisville;  and  though  our 
Savior  says  where  the  treasure  is  there  will 
the  heart  be  also,  the  heart,  in  this  case,  is  in 
Louisville  only  for  the  souls  that  may  there  be 
brought  to  Jesus.  Here  I  am  hampered;  there 
the  Lord  will  bring  me  into  a  large  place. 
Here  I  can  hope  to  reach  but  few;  there  num- 
bers stand  to  be  urged  to  the  Cross.  Here  a 
little  m^y  be  done;  there  much  fruit  may  be 
expected  as  the  result  of  diligent,  prayerful 
effort. 

"Weigh  the  whole  matter,  my  dear  peo- 
ple, as  a  question  of  duty;  inquire  seriously  and 
prayerfully  what  you  and  I  owe  to  the  church 
and  to  our  Redeemer;  and  may  God  in  His 
infinite  mercy  lead  you  to  such  a  conclusion  as 
shall  promote  the  best  interests  of  His  King- 
dom and  call  down  upon  us  His  favor  which  is 
life,  His  loving  kindness  which   is  better  than 

life. 

"Your  affectionate  Friend  and  Pastor, 

"James  H.  Brookes." 


76  JAMKS  H.   BROOKES:      A  MKMOlR. 

THE    CALL    DECLINED. 

The  Dayton  church  was  thoroughly 
aroused  and  strongly  resisted  the  call  to  Louis- 
ville. The  matter  was  taken  to  Presbytery. 
Mr.  Brookes  told  the  representatives  of  his 
church  there,  very  frankly,  that  he  loved  his 
Dayton  charge,  and  desired  nothing  better 
than  to  remain  as  their  pastor  indefinitely;  he 
reiterated  that  '*his  heart  was  in  Dayton." 

But,  with  equal  frankness,  he  pointed  out 
that  it  was  unfair  to  them,  to  him,  and  to  the 
cause  he  labored  for,  to  expect  him  to  continue 
in  the  overcrowded  building  which  practically 
barred  out  new  members. 

The  fairness  of  his  words  appealed  to  all. 
No  one  could  expect  such  a  man  to  continue 
long  in  a  church  which  was  then  so  filled 
that  further  growth  was  impossible.  What 
was  practically  a  compact  was  then  made. 
The  representatives  of  the  Dayton  church  at 
Presbytery  said  that  if  he  would  continue  as 
their  pastor,  that  they  would  enlarge  the 
church,  and  give  it  a  fair  chance  for  future 
growth  and  extended  influence. 

"Then,"  replied  their  pastor  at  once,  'T 
will  stay  with  you  all  the  rest  of  my  days." 

So    the  flattering  call    to  the  large    city 


THE   SETTLED   PAvSTOR.  it 

church  was  declined,  and  the  work  at    Dayton 
went  on  with  unabated  zeal. 

But  the  second  call  to  a  larger  field,  which 
soon  came,  could  not,  under  the  circumstances, 
be  declined.  What  these  circumstances  were, 
will  be  shown  in  another  chapter. 


Called  To  St.  Louis 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CALLED  TO  ST.  LOUIS. 

O^HE  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  St, 
\^  Louis  was,  in  1857,  without  a  pastor; 
Dr.  Rice  having  accepted  a  call  to 
Chicago.  (This  same  Dr.  Rice  was  the  Cin- 
cinnati friend  of  James  Brookes,  the  collegian.) 

The  manner  in  which  the  name  of  Rev. 
James  H.  Brookes  was  brought  before  that 
church  is  an  interesting  bit  of  history. 

One  of  the  pastoral  committee  of  the 
church  had  taken  a  long  pilgrimage  to  hear  a 
certain  noted  preacher  of  that  day.  But  he 
was  not  pleased,  and  so  reported  on  his  return 
to  St.  Louis.  The  congregation  knew  not 
exactly  where  to  turn. 

It  so  happened,  as  we  would  say — though 
Dr.  Brookes  would  say,  -'there  are  no  happen- 
ings"— that  the  father  of  one  of  the  elders  of 
the  present  Washington  and  Compton  Avenue 
Church,  while  en  route  from  his  Virginia  home 
to  St.    Louis,   had   been  obliged,    against   his 


82  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

will,  to  Stop  off  for  a  Sunday  at  Dayton,  Ohio. 
He  "happened"  to  enter  Mr.  Brookes'  church, 
knowing  absolutely  nothing  of  him. 

The  stranger  was  simply  captivated.  He 
brought  such  a  glowing  report  to  his  son  in  St. 
Louis,  that  immediate  plans  were  laid  to  have 
the  remarkable  young  Dayton  preacher  come 
to  St.  Louis,  "on  trial,"  so  to  speak. 

A  letter  inviting  Mr.  Brookes  to  come  and 
preach  one  Sunday,  was  sent.  It  was  imme- 
diately declined. 

Later,  when  a  proposed  visit  to  his  moth- 
er in  Tennessee,  was  about  to  be  made,  a  Sun- 
day stop  at  St.  Louis  was  arranged  for,  after 
many  urgent  invitations. 

It  was  considered  on  neither  side  as  "can- 
didating."  Dr.  Brookes  never  was  a  "can- 
didate" for  any  pulpit.  In  the  following  Jan- 
uary, the  brief  visit  to  the  Second  church  was 
made. 

His  preaching,  his  personality — every- 
thing, must  have  pleased  the  St.  Louis  congre- 
gation, for  on  February  15th,  the  unanimous 
call  was  sent. 

The  steps  which  led  to  the  prompt  accep- 
tance of  the  call  were  simple.  According  to 
the  Dayton  church  officers,  the  hard  times  had 
prevented  the  fulfillment  of  their  plan  for  the 


CAIvLED  TO  ST.    LOUIS-  83 

necessary  rebuilding  of  the  church.  It  was 
on  that  hope  that  the  call  to  Louisville  had 
been  declined. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  immediate  likeli- 
hood of  any  enlarging  of  the  Dayton  church, 
and  he  felt  that  the  great  field  and  wider 
opportunities  which  again  were  opened  before 
him  must  not  a  second  time,  for  merely  per- 
sonal reasons,  be  disregarded. 

With  kindest  feeling  toward  the  member- 
ship as  individuals,  he  read  his  resignation 
from  the  pulpit,  the  following  Sunday. 

*'You  need  not  oppose  it,"  he  said;  "I  do 
not  intend  to  remain.  You  have  not  fulfilled 
your  pledge." 

THE    FIRST    PRAYER-MEETING. 

Dr.  Brookes  began  his  St.  Louis  pastor- 
ate informally,  on  a  cold  Wednesday  night, 
February  i8,  1858. 

From  the  train,  he  was  taken  at  once  to 
the  home  of  Judge  Gamble,  an  officer  of  his 
new  church,  where  a  warm  welcome  and  many 
creature  comforts  awaited  the  ''new  minister." 
From  the  comfortable  home  the  energetic 
guest  went,  accompanied  by  his  host,  to  the 
church  to  attend  prayer-meeting.  I  hey  were, 
necessarily,  somewhat  late,  and  found  the  con- 
gregation at  prayer. 


84  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

Dr.  Brookes  said  it  was  *'a  good  begin- 
ning." 

And  so  it  proved  to  be.  For  the  new 
pastor  immediately  began  to  conduct  protracted 
evangelistic  services,  which  were  carried  on 
for  some  time  with   most  encouraging  results. 

At  his  first  communion  service,  soon  after 
his  arrival,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming 
into  church  fellowship  forty-five  new  mem- 
bers, a  large  proportion  being  young  men,  and 
all,  it  is  understood,  being  adults. 

He  referred,  on  that  communion  Sunday, 
to  the  work  of  his  predecessors.  Dr.  Potts  and 
Dr.  Rice.  With  a  sense  of  modesty  which 
well  became  a  young  man,  he  gave  the  glory 
for  the  very  auspicious  beginning  of  his  city 
pastorate,  first,  to  his  Maker,  and  then  to  his 
predecessors. 

His  words  were:  "I  am  but  reaping  the 
harvest  sown  by  that  saintly  man,  Dr.  Potts, 
who  ministered  to  you  of  the  Word  of  God; 
and  of  the  loved  Dr.  Rice,  so  lately  with  you." 

So  his  work  in  St.  Louis  was  begun  most 
hopefully. 

Among  those  who  were  received  at  the 
first  communions  were  young  men  destined 
to  be  upholders  of  Dr.  Brookes'  hands  through- 
out the  whole  of  his  thirty-nine  years'  pastorate 


CAI.I.^D  TO  SI*.    I.OUIS.  85 

in  St.  Louis  some  of  whom  are  still  honored  lay 
officers  of  the  Washington  and  Compton  Ave- 
nue Church  of  that  city.  Their  pastor  grew 
old  with  them,  and  he  has  gone  beyond. 

It  was  his  custom,  in  those  days,  to  fre- 
quently meet  with  his  young  converts,  to  in- 
struct them  and  strengthen  them.  Such 
meetings  are  looked  back  to  with  special  ten- 
derness by  those  who  were  a  part  of  them. 

THE    COLONIZATION    PLAN. 

The  Second  Church  was  strong  and  pros- 
perous when  the  young  minister  came  to  it. 
He  would  have  preferred,  doubtless,  in  many 
ways,  a  weak  or  run-down  church  which  need- 
ed a  young  giant  to  build  it  up.  The  next 
best  thing,  he  held,  was  to  urge   colonization. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  always  an  advocate  of 
the  church  colonization  plan,  and  he  soon  made 
known  his  ideas  among  his  St.  Louis  friends. 
He  believed  that  the  strong  Second  Church 
should  send  out  a  branch  into  a  home  of  its 
own,  free  from  debt. 

He  laid  before  his  church  officers  his  argu- 
ments in  telling  fashion.  He  showed  them 
that  in  a  church  so  thoroughly  filled  with  mem- 
bers there  was  little  chance  for  bringing  in 
strangers,  and  as  a  young  minister  he  wanted 
plenty  of  growing  room.     The  lesson   he  had 


86  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

learned  in  his  first  pastorate  was  doubtless 
always  before  him. 

His  plan,  in  brief,  was  this:  The  Second 
Church  should  buy  a  suitable  site,  in  the  proper 
locality  for  future  usefulness,  and  erect  upon  it 
a  complete  new  church.  His  idea  met  with 
approval,  and  a  lot  at  i6th  and  Walnut  street 
was  bought. 

There  a  large  chapel  was  erected.  The 
history  of  that  edifice,  and  the  great  Presby- 
terian church  Dr.  Brookes  made  of  it,  is  told 
in  other  chapters. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  when  the  idea  of 
the  colony  was  conceived  and  carried  out, 
there  was  no  thought  in  the  minds  of  either 
Dr.  Brookes  or  the  congregation  of  the  Second 
Church,  that  he  was  to  go  out  with  any  colony. 
But  untoward  and  unexpected  circumstances 
developed,  and  he  was  urged  to  lead  out  that 
colony  and  to  occupy  the  pulpit  of  that  very 
church,  then  roofed  over,  but  not  finished. 

To  one  looking  back  upon  those  days,  the 
workings  of  Providence  are  most  plainly  seen 
in  this  colonization  plan  of  the  brilliant  young 
pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church. 
When  there  was  sudden  and  urgent  need  of  a 
new  church  home,  that  home  was  ready. 


CAI.I.ED  TO  ST.    I.OUIS.  87 

THE    FIRST    EUROPEAN    TRIP. 

In  1 86 1,  Dr.  Brookes  suffered  from  a  se- 
vere throat  trouble.  For  months  he  preached 
when  every  word  he  uttered  was  an  effort,  and 
a  painful  effort.  The  trouble  was  the  result  of 
severe  cold  taken  while  on  a  journey. 

Waiting,  on  the  way,  in  a  junction  depot 
for  a  late  train,  he  was  driven  from  the  room 
by  the  oaths  of  a  crowd  of  alleged  men.  Tired 
and  worn  out,  Dr.  Brookes  fell  asleep  in  the 
open  air,  on  the  prairie  sod.  A  cold  resulted, 
which  developed  into  the  throat  trouble. 

Finally,  it  reached  the  stage  that  the 
urgent  wishes  of  his  physician,  that  he  go  to 
Paris  and  consult  the  leading  throat  specialist 
of  the  day,  had  to  be  carried  out.  He  arranged 
for  a  six  months'  respite,  and  was  soon  in 
Paris. 

The  specialist's  diagnosis  of  the  case  was 
alarming.  "Dr.  Brookes,"  said  the  learned 
medico,  "you  will  never  be  able  to  speak  above 
a  whisper  again!" 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  young  minister 
can  be  imagined.  He  determined  to  hear  the 
opinions  of  others  before  giving  up  the  strug- 
gle for  the  winning  back  of  his  voice. 

A  younger  Parisian  doctor,  but  one  who 
was  rapidly  forging  ahead  in   his   calling,  was 


88  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

then  seen.  He  made  a  thorough  examination 
of  the  delicate  organs,  whereas  the  other  had 
done  so  cursorily.  His  verdict  was  far  more 
hopeful.  He  pointed  out  that  the  muscles  of 
the  throat  had  been  sadly  over- taxed,  when 
tired.  But  a  rest,  with  certain  exercises,  he 
predicted,  would  result  in  a  cure. 

His  ''certain  exercises"  astonished  the 
minister,  and  more  yet  the  minister's  wife. 
For  the  physician  ordered  Dr.  Brookes  to  box 
regularly  with  a  certain  famous  prize-fighter, 
who  conducted  a  gymnasium.  A  demurrer 
was  entered,  naturally. 

"Well,  then,"  was  the  response,  "go  to 
some  country  where  you  cannot  speak  the 
language.  There  you  must  climb  mountains, 
and  row." 

There  was  no  objection  offered  to  that 
prescription;  and  soon  the  tall,  athletic  young 
St.  Louisan  was  climbing,  rowing  and  keep- 
ing silent  in  the  Swiss  tongue,  conscientiously, 
in  and  about  Santa  Clair,  at  the  head  of  Lake 
Geneva. 

The  throat  muscles  were  strengthened  by 
the  vigorous  play  of  the  others.  One  bright 
day  Dr.  Brookes  discovered  that  his  voice 
had  returned,  and  he  made  the  shore  of  the 


CALLED   TO   ST.    LOUIS.  S9 

lake  ring  with  song  (for  he  was  a  magnificent 
singer  in  his  youth.) 

The  young  Parisian  specialist  had  proved 
himself  a  true  prophet. 

RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

Then  came  the  astounding  news  that  *'the 
dogs  of  war"  had  been  let  slip  in  the  United 
States.  Alarming  rumors  reached  that  quiet 
spot  on  Lake  Geneva.  At  once  Dr.  Brookes 
made  up  his  mind  to  cut  short  his  vacation  and 
take  chances  as  to  the  completion  of  the  cure 
of  his  throat. 

"My  people  are  in  trouble  and  I  must  go 
home,"  he  said;  and  "stayed  not  on  the  order 
of  his  going." 

One  of  the  startling  reports  that  reached 
him,  and  which  was  found  later  to  have  been 
true,  was  that  of  a  riot  between  citizens  and 
soldiers  which  occurred  at  the  very  church  cor- 
ner, 1 6th  and  Walnut  street.  Glass  was  bro- 
ken in  the  church  windows  and  in  those  of  the 
parsonage  adjoining. 

Another — on  which  Dr.  Brookes  could 
have  proved  an  "alibi"  of  a  good  many  thous- 
and miles  had  it  been  necessar)- — was  that  '  a 
big,  tall  man"  (Dr.  Brookes,  thought  the  mob. 
knowing  not  that  the  Doctor  was  in    Switzer- 


90  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

land)  **was  seen  firing  a  gun  from  the  parson- 
age window"! 

As  he  passed  through  New  York  on  his 
way  home,  he  was  secured  to  supply  the  pulpit 
of  a  leading  Dutch  Reform  church.  The  ex- 
tent to  which  he  must  have  pleased  his  audi- 
tors can  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that,  the 
next  day,  he  was  politely  * 'sounded"  as  to 
whether  he  would  "consider  a  call." 

His  answer  was  an  explicit  "No."  His 
duty  was  to  get  back  home  to  his  troubled  peo- 
ple at  once,  he  held.  That  was  no  time  to 
even  think  of  leaving  them,  he  felt.  So  that 
very  flattering  overture  to  the  young  West- 
erner was  cast  aside,  and  no  one  but  his  imme- 
diate family  knew  anything  about  that  first  step 
towards  a  call  to  a  great  New  York  pulpit. 

The  same  thing  happened  many  times 
afterwards.  Pastoral  committees  from  many 
cities  came  to  St.  Louis  to  "lasso"  Dr.  Brookes. 
At  one  time  seven  officers  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Indianapolis,  suddenly 
appeared  (among  them  U.  S.  Senator,  after- 
wards President,  Harrison)  on  such  an  errand. 
But  such  call  proffering  committee  all  received 
the  same  answer.  No  one  outside  of  his 
own  church — and     in     numerous     cases     not 


CAtt^D  to  St.  totris.  91 

even  its   members — knew   anything  of    those 
calls,  or  polite  "soundings." 

According  to  century-end  notions  of  so 
many  ministerial  lights,  what  a  sad  waste  of 
self  advertising  material  was  that! 


Troublous  Times. 


Dr.  Brookes  in  Middle  Age, 


CHAPTER  VII. 
TROUBLOUS  TIMES. 

HERE  were  "troublous  times"  in  St.  Louis 
Presbyterian  circles  in  the  sixties.  Good 
men  and  true  differed,  and  suffered.  To 
hear  the  personal  histories  of  some  men  of 
those  days  set  forth,  brings  vividly  to  the  mind 
of  the  imaginative  man  or  woman  of  these 
''piping  times  o'  peace"  the  thought  of  the 
Scottish  Covenanters. 

No  correct  record  of  the  life  of  Dr. 
Brookes  can  be  made  without  recalling  the 
part  he  played  in  those  days.  It  was  Dr. 
Brookes'  firm  stand  for  what  he  held  to  be 
right  in  the  soul-trying  time,  that  opened 
the  way  to  the  sudden  forming  of  the  power- 
ful ''Sixteenth  Street,"  later  known  as  the 
Sixteenth  and  Walnut  Street  Presbyterian 
Church;  the  parent  of  the  grand  old  Washing- 
ton and  Compton  Avenue  Church. 

On  the  horns  of  a  dilemma  is  any  recorder 
of  St.  Louis  Presbyterian  history.     He  would 


96  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

not  Stir  up  any  unhappy  recollections;  yet  he 
cannot  overlook  or  slur  over  "the  things 
which  are  behind,"  and  at  the  same  time  write 
truthful  coherent  accounts.  It  is  obvious  that 
a  few  succinct  facts  must  be  given,  "with  malice 
towards  none."  No  man  or  woman  of  proper 
mental  poise  will  be  offended  thereby. 

Before  the  war,  during  the  war,  and  ever 
after  the  war — from  his  first  sermon  to  his 
last — Dr.  Brookes  held  firmdy  that  the  affairs 
of  God  and  the  affairs  of  Csesar  should  be 
unalterably  separated. 

Therefore,  as  a  pastor,  he  did  not  pray 
for  the  success  of  this  army  or  that  army; 
though  he  prayed  always  that  the  war  might 
cease.  And  whatever  might  have  been  the 
wishes  of  this  church  member  or  that  church 
member,  Dr.  Brookes  went  on  immovable  in 
the  course  which  his  conscience  dictated. 

He  was  but  a  young  minister  to  be  at  the 
head  of  one  of  the  great  city  Presbyterian 
churches;  and  displeasing  elderly  "pillars  of  the 
church,"  who  conscientiously  felt  that  this 
army  or  that  army  should  be  publicly  prayed 
for,  might  have  meant  a  serious  set-back  in 
his  earthly  career. 

But  the  young  Timothy  never  wavered. 
It  was  a  way  he  had. 


TROUBLOUS   TIMES.  97 

And  when  word  came  to  him  that,  from 
one  pair  of  lips,  at  least,  open  disapproval  of 
his  course  had  come,  he  immediately  resigned 
the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church.  It  might  have  seemed  a  great  risk,  to 
many — that  resignation.  But  there  never  was 
a  bolder,  more  independent  man  in  his  church 
relations  than  Dr.  Brookes. 

It  was  his  intention  to  leave  St.  Louis  at 
once.  He  read  his  resignation  on  Sunday. 
On  the  following  Monday  a  deputation  of  the 
church  called  on  him  and  urged  him  to  remain, 
as  their  pastor,  in  a  separate  church  edifice. 
He  accepted  the  call,  after  prayerful  delibera- 
tion; and  the  Wednesday  following  the  Six- 
teenth and  Walnut  Street  Church,  which  after- 
wards became  the  Washington  and  Compton 
Avenue,  began  its  useful  career.  Of  that 
movement  other  chapters  will  tell. 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS    SET    STRAIGHT. 

It  is  well,  here  and  now,  to  set  many 
erroneous  views  straight. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  a  Southerner,  born  and 
bred,  but  he  was  not  a  Secessionist,  His  sym- 
pathies were  with  his  friends  in  the  South,  but 
he  thought  their  course  of  action  ruinous. 

He  was  never,  as  many  Southern  admir- 
ers have   supposed,  and  have  frequently  as- 


98  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR, 

serted,  a  member  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Assembly.  He  was  a  member,  and  a  leading 
member,  of  the  Independent  Synod  of  Mis- 
souri; a  large  division  of  which  was  eventually 
absorbed  by  the  Southern  Assembly. 

When  the  Northern  Assembly  seemed  to 
him  to  set  itself  right  on  certain  lines  of  policy 
which  he  had  vigorously  disagreed  with — and 
because  of  his  outspoken  disagreement  had 
been  cut  off  from  that  body — he  returned  to  it. 
That  was  the  course  his  conscience  and  judg- 
ment dictated. 

The  intermingling  of  the  things  of  God 
with  the  things  of  Caesar;  of  Presbyterianism 
with  politics  on  the  part  of  certain  members 
of  the  Assembly,  had  led  Dr.  Brookes  to  take 
the  protesting  stand  just  referred  to.  He  was 
simply  consistently  carrying  out  the  principles 
which  forced  him  to  tender  his  resignation,  so 
suddenly,  to  his  first  St.    Louis  congregation. 

The  writer  was  not  born  until  after  the 
War.  Naturally,  he  cannot  discuss  these  mat- 
ters. He  simply  presents,  in  the  above,  and 
the  following  paragraphs,  carefully-gleaned 
historical  facts.  He  goes  down  to  bed-rock 
records,  and  lets  them  speak  for  themselves. 
"the  spring  resolutions." 

To  such  actions  as  the   ''Spring  Resolu- 


TROUBLOUS  TIMES.  99 

tions^'  of  1861,  adopted  by  the  Northern  As- 
sembly at  Philadelphia,  did  Dr.  Brookes  refer; 
with  such,  he  heartily  differed.  And  when 
he  heartily  differed  with  anybody,  or  any- 
thing, that  fact   he  made  known,    sometimes 

forcibly. 

One  of  those  resolutions   adopted   at  Phila- 
delphia was: 

^^ Resolved:  That  this  General  Assembly,  in 
the  spirit  of  that  Christian  patriotism  which  the 
Scriptures  enjoin,  and  which  has  always  char- 
acterized this  Church,  do  hereby  acknowledge 
and  declare  our  obligation,  to  promote  and  per- 
petuate,  sofaras  in  us  lies,  the  integrity  of 
these  United  States,  and  to  strengthen,  uphold 
and  encourage  the  Federal  Government  in  the 
exercise  of  all  its  functions,  under  our  noble 
Constitution;  and  to  this  Constitution,  in  all 
its  provisions,  requirements  and  principles,  we 
profess  our  unabated  loyalty.  And  to  avoid 
all  misconception,  the  Assembly  declares  that 
by  the  term  Federal  Government,  as  here 
used,  is  not  meant  any  particular  Administra- 
tion, or  the  peculiar  opinions  of  any  particular 
party,  but  that  Central  Administration  which, 
being  at  any  time  appointed  and  inaugurated 
according  to  the  forms  prescribed  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  is  the  visible 
representative  of  our  national  existence." 


100  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

"''From  that  '"it  will  be  perceived  that  a 
Court  of  the  Lord  Jesus  undertakes  to  settle 
authoritatively,  by  a  single  resolution,  a  great 
political  question  which  had  divided  the  minds 
of  eminent  statesmen,  North  and  South,  since 
the  very  foundation  of  the  Government.'  " 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  and  fifty  seven  others 
entered  their  protest: 

**We,  the  undersigned,  respectively  pro- 
test against  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly 
■''  *"'  "'^  because  we  deny  the  right  of 
the  General  Assembly  to  decide  the  political 
question,  to  what  Government  the  allegiance 
of  Presbyterians,  as  citizens,  is  due,  and  its 
right  to  make  that  decision  a  condition  of 
membership  In  our  church.  That  the  paper 
adopted  by  the  Assembly  docs  decide  the 
political  question  just  stated,  in  our  judgment, 
is  undeniable. 

'*It  is,  however,  a  notorious  fact,  that 
many  of  our  ministers  and  members  conscien- 
tiously believe  that  the  allegiance  of  the  citi- 
zens of  this  country  Is  primarily  due  to  the 
States  to  which  they  respectively  belong. 
""'''''  The  paper  adopted  by  the  Assembly  virtu- 
ally declares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  allegi- 
ance of  citizens   Is   due   to  the  United  States, 

=■.-•  "Memoir  of  Dr.  S.  G.  McPheeters." 


TROUBLOUS  TIMKS.  lOl 

anything  in  the  Constitution,  ordinances  or 
laws  of  the  several  States  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. ''■  '''■  ''^  *  It  is  the 
allegiance  of  the  Old  School  Presbyterian 
Church  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Federal 
Government  which  this  paper  is  intended  to 
profess  and  proclaim.  It  does,  therefore,  of 
necessity,  decide  the  political  question  which 
agitates  the  country.  This  is  a  matter  clearly 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  this  house. 
''  ^-  ""  ''  The  General  Assembly, 
in  thus  deciding  a  political  question,  and  in 
making  that  decision  practically  a  condition  of 
membership  of  the  church,  has,  in  our  judg- 
ment, violated  the  Constitution  of  the  Church 
and  usurped  the  prerogative  of  its  Divine 
Master.'' 

''declaration  and  testimony." 
Dr.  Brookes  was  one  of  the  prominent 
signers  of  the  "Declaration  and  Testimony," 
and  played  an  important  part  in  the  councils 
which  produced  it.  This  document  was  drawn 
up  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Wilson — who  was 
''neither  a  Southerner  by  blood  nor  a  Seces- 
sionist by  principle,"  it  should  be  noted.  Dr. 
Wilson's  home  was  in  the  North,  and  no  one 
ever  doubted  his  loyalty  to  the  Northern  cause. 
This  document  reviewed  the  entire  course 


102  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIft. 

of  the  political  events  of  the  five   General  As- 
semblies from  1 86 1  through  1865. 

'"*  ''A  solemn  Declaration  and  Testimony 
was  accordingly  drawn  up  by  Rev.  Samuel 
R.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  against  the  entire  political 
action  of  the  five  Assemblies,  from  1861  to 
1865,  inclusive.  This  Declaration  was  numer- 
ously signed,  particularly  in  the  Synods  of 
Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  was  largely  cir- 
culated through  the  bounds  of  the  Old  School 
Church  of  the  North.  It  was  also  formally 
adopted  by  the  Presbytery  of  Louisville,  on 
the  2nd  of  September,  1865,  and  became  a 
solemn  covenant  by  which  all  the  signers 
pledged  themselves  to  each  other  to  use  their 
best  endeavors  to  bring  back  the  church  of 
their  fathers  to  her  ancient  purity  and  integ- 
rity; and,  if  finally  compelled  to  withdraw 
from  those  who  have  departed  from  the  truth, 
to  go  bearing  with  them  the  true  Presbyterian 
Church,  with  her  doctrine,  order,  worship  and 
freedom,  as  they  have  been  given  her  by  her 
Divine  Head,  and  transmitted  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  by  the  hands  of  saints,  con- 
fessors and  martyrs. 

''As  late  as  1862  a  Presbyter  could  quietly 
dissent  from  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  and  yet 

*  "Memoir  of  Dr.  S.  G.  McPheeters." 


TROUBI.OUS  i^ime:s.  103 

be  allowed  to  pursue  his  ministerial  avocations 
free  from  interruption  and  intolerant  persecu- 
tion. He  was  not  required,  under  penalty  of 
arrest  and  excommunication,  to  accept  the 
doctrines  of  'freedom  and  loyalty,'  and  to  lend 
himself  to  the  execution  of  ecclesiastical  de- 
v^ices  which  judgment,  unbiased  by  fanatical 
zeal,  could  not  honestly  approve/'"  ''' 

''These  words  were  uttered  in  1862; 
but  in  1865  the  aspect  of  affairs  had  changed. 
In  the  meantime  the  Assembly  had  taken  won- 
derful strides.  Every  minister  was  now  re- 
quired not  only  to  accept  the  deliverance,  but 
to  co-operate  actively  in  the  execution  of  every 
doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  decree.  No  option 
remained.  One  must  either  go  forward  with 
the  multitude  or  else,  pausing  at  the  voice  of 
conscience,  protest  before  the  world;  while  the 
issues  of  the  conflict  were  confided  to  that 
God  whose  judgments  are  impartial  and  whose 
purposes  shall  stand."  "'"'  "'" 

"If  history,  therefore,  at  this  point,  is  prop- 
erly considered,  it  will  be  clearly  perceived 
that  neither  the  author  of  the  Declaration  and 
Testimony,  nor  those  who  sympathized  with 
his  views  were  peace-breakers  or  schismatics; 
but,  impelled  by  the  irresistible  logic  of  con- 
science,   they   sought   not   simply,  to    'render 


104  JAMEvS    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOlfe. 

unto  Caesar  the   things  that  are  Caesar's,   but 
also  unto  God  the  things  which  are  God's.'  " 

SESSIONAL    RECORDS. 

Next  in  order,  without  endeavoring  to 
recall  all  the  records  of  local  Presbyterial  and 
Synodical  debates  which  centered  on  Dr. 
Brookes  and  his  church,  the  most  important 
sessional  acts  naturally  follow. 

The  subjoined  paper,  unanimously  adopt- 
ed by  the  session  of  Dr.  Brookes'  church  on 
July  lo,  1874,  sets  forth  clearly  the  attitude  of 
the  pastor  on  some  of  the  grave  questions  of 
those  days  of  reconstruction — in  Presbyterian 
as  well  as  in  National  existence. 

It  should  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  some 
of  the  honored  laymen  who  subscribed  to  this 
paper  did  so  most  unselfishly.  Some  of  them 
had  offered  their  very  lives  to  the  cause  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  Yet,  because  they 
believed  it  was  for  the  "greatest  good  to  the 
greatest  number"  of  their  beloved  Church,  and 
especially  because  Dr  Brookes  led  the  way, 
they  cheerfully  signed  a  statement  which  prac- 
tically cut  them  (ecclesiastically)  aloof  from 
many  dear  friends  in  the  South. 

A.11  honor  to  those  laymen  who  put  the 
good  of  their  Church  and  pastor  above  their 
natural  inclinations. 


TROUBI.OUS   TIMES.  105 

This  is  the  statement: 

"The  Session,  having  fervently  sought 
the  guidance  of  Divine  Wisdom,  cannot  see 
the  way  opened  at  present  to  represent  this 
church  in  a  Presbytery  connected  with  either 
the  Northern  or  Southern  General  Assembly. 
Our  conviction  is  very  clear  that  duty  to  the 
entire  number  of  brethren  over  whom  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  made  us  overseers,  requires 
us  to  remain  practically  independent  until  the 
Lord  shall  more  distinctly  indicate  to  us  His 
will  concerning  our  future  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions. 

''We  stand,  therefore,  precisely  where  we 
stood  previous  to  the  action  of  the  Old  School 
Synod  of  Missouri  in  October  1873,  deter- 
mined to  know  neither  North  nor  South  in  the 
Church  of  God;  refusing  to  consult  our  natural 
inclinations  in  seeking  to  promote  the  inter- 
ests of  His  Kingdom;  and  anxious  to  avoid 
even  the  appearance  of  being  controlled  by 
political  prejudices  or  sectional  sympathies  in 
our  association  with  other  Christians. 

''We  furthermore  declare  that  the  recent 
unanimous  action  of  the  Northern  General 
Assembly,  in  frankly  and  fully  accepting  and 
adopting  the  principles  for  which  we  have  tes- 
tified and  suffered  during  the  past  eight  years, 


106  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

ought  to  be  and  shall  be  the  end  of  our  con- 
troversy with  that  body;  and  we  hereby  ex- 
press our  desire  to  co-operate  with  all  in  the 
Synod  of  Missouri  and  in  the  Southern  Assem- 
bly who  are  disposed  to  meet  this  action  in  a 
fraternal  spirit,  and  are  ready  to  receive  it  as 
the  removal  of  any  barrier  to  the  closest  broth- 
erly intercourse  with  those  from  whom  we 
have  been  separated;  and  forgetting  the  things 
that  are  behind,  are  willing  to  unite  with  faith- 
ful witnesses  for  the  truth  throughout  the  en- 
tire Presbyterian  family,  in  earnestly  contend- 
ing for  the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints. 
"Meanwhile  we  give  to  every  one  from  any 
part  of  the  country  or  of  the  world,  who  may 
choose  to  worship  with  us,  assurance  of  a  sin- 
cere welcome  and  of  free  participation  with  us 
in  the  joy  of  fellowship  with  our  common 
Lord." 

THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    1 867. 

Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Fullerton,  of  Cincin- 
nati, a  college  classmate  of  Dr.  Brookes', 
whose  kindly  interest  in  this  work  has  been 
most  valuable,  has  sent  these  personal  recollec- 
tions of  the  General  Assembly  of  1867.  It  is 
pleasant  to  have  such  exact,  unbiased  records: 

'*I  saw  much  of  Dr.  Brookes  during  the 
General  Assembly  of  1867,"  writes  Dr.  Fuller- 


TROUBLOUS   TIMES  107 

ton.  '*He  had  been  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
•Declaration  and  Testimony'  against  certain 
coercive  acts  and  orders  of  the  Assembly  of 
1865.  He  came  to  Cincinnati  in  obedience  to 
a  call  to  give  account  of  himself. 

''He  was  not  in  a  meek  frame  of  mind. 
All  of  his  thundering  and  lightning  was  ready 
to  leap.  Two  or  three  of  us — his  classmates — 
undertook  to  quiet  him.  We  kept  him  away 
from  his  excited  set  as  much  as  we  could.  We 
saw  that  he  met,  socially,  representative  men 
on  the  other  side.  Personal  contact  with  those 
from  whom  he  differed  in  opinion  almost 
always  made  him  gentle.  He  was  too  human 
to  resist  the  appeal  of  another  human  heart. 

'*I  had  no  faith  in  the  policy  to  which  the 
General  Assembly  committed  itself  in  the  awful 
storm  of  passion  which  swept  the  land  after 
the  death  of  Lincoln.  I  had  no  faith  in  the 
logic  by  which  it  was  argued  that  the  Assem- 
bly could  summarily  try  and  cut  off  ministers 
without  the  intervention  of  the  Presbytery. 
But  I  thought  that  the  Gurley  resolution  might 
be  regarded  as  being  proceedings  of  the  nature 
of  what  is  called  in  courts  ^citation  for  con- 
tempt'; and  that  when  viewed  in  that  light 
they  were  constitutional.  I  wrote  an  explana- 
tory   resolution     expressing    this  idea,    and 


108  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

showed  it  to  Dr.  Gurley.  He  said  that  the 
theory  on  which  he  had  framed  his  resolution 
was  precisely  that  which  I  held.  But  he  asked 
me  not  to  introduce  my  paper,  as  'the  Assem- 
bly was  not  composed  of  men  accustomed 
to  legal  forms  and  distinctions,  and  trouble 
might  arise.' 

'*I  yielded  reluctantly.  But  I  told  Brookes 
what  my  idea  was.  He  caught  at  it  as  a  great 
relief.  He  was  ready  to  'purge  himself  of 
contempt,'  forthwith.  He  was  aware  that 
much  of  the  language  used  in  the  'Declaration 
and  Testimony'  was  'unnecessarily  severe  and 
not  respectful  in  tone.' 

''He  gave  our  friend  Dr.  Gurley,  and  my- 
self, a  full  account  of  that  remarkable  docu- 
ment— a  history  rich  in  drollery,  as  it  was  full 
of  his  own  characteristics,  and  those  of  other 
men  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  move- 
ment. 

"The  next  day  beseemed  tired.  He  told 
us  that  he  had  been  awake  most  of  the  night 
'getting  up  another  speech.'  He  had  dis- 
missed his  indignation,  and  meant  to  say  the 
things  which  would  make  peace. 

"He  kept  his  word.  People  who  heard 
him  wondered  if  this  was  the  lion  who  was  to 
roar  and  rend  things. 


TROUBLOUS   TIMES.  109 

"Then  he  bade  us  good-bye.  *I  am  go- 
ing home.  I  shall  not  enter  the  Southern 
Church.  I  love  you  fellows  too  well.  But 
there  are  men  who  have  stood  with  me  in  this 
fight,  who  are  not  ready  to  come  back  as  I  am, 
this  very  day.  I  shall  try  to  hold  them  steady, 
and  some  time  we  shall  all  be  together  again.' 
Other  things  he  said,  too  tender  and  sacred  to 
write. 


"I  have  seen  Brookes  only  three  times 
since.  The  last  time  was  four  years  ago.  I 
met  him  on  a  railway  train,  and  we  rode  to- 
gether from  Asbury  Park  to  Philadelphia.  It 
was  a  blessed  hour.  He  was  just  the  same 
old  fellow  that  he  was  at  Oxford,  the  same 
that  he  is  always  to  me  in  recollection,  the 
same  that  I  shall  find  him,  one  day,  soon. 

** Massive  brain!  Big  heart!  Majestic 
presence!  Great  believer,  helper,  man  of  God! 
The  life  has  been  worth  living  that  has  given 
to  me  such  a  friend  to  be  my  friend  forever, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 


In  the  Assembly  which  met  in  St.  Louis 
in  1874,  Dr.  Brookes  was  pressed  to  cast  his 
lot  in  with  the  Northern  branch — he  feeling,  as 
has  been  set  forth,  that  the   body   had   practi- 


110  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

cally  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  right. 
He  was  again  joyfully  received  as  a  member. 
Yet  he  ever  had  the  warmest  feelings  for,  and 
enjoyed  the  respect  of,  his  brethren  of  the 
South. 


The  16th  and  Walnut  Street 
Church. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE     SIXTEENTH     AND    WALNUT 
STREET  CHURCH. 

WITHIN  one  week  occurred  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Brookes  from  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  the  preaching  of 
his  first  sermon  in  his  new  St.  Louis  charge 
''The  Sixteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church." 

This  body  was  organized  on  Monday  eve- 
ning, July  4,  1864,  by  a  committee  of  the  St. 
Louis  Presbytery,  consisting  of  Joseph  F. 
Fenton  and  James  A.  Paige,  ministers,  and 
Wyllys  King,  ruHng  elder.  One  other  elder, 
selected,  was  not  present. 

The  original  membership  of  the  colony 
which  urged  Dr.  Brookes  to  become  its  spirit- 
ual guide  at  the  time  he  resigned  his  charge 
at  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  was  149. 
These  had  all  been  members  of  the  Second 
Church,  and  they  sought  out  Dr.  Brookes. 
He  did  not  turn  over  his  hand,   nor  utter   a 

113 


114  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

single  word  to  Induce  them  to  come  out.  It 
had  been  his  intention  to  shake  the  dust  of  St. 
Louis  from  his  feet  at  the  time  of  that  resigna- 
tion, but  these  friends  earnestly  plead  with 
him  to  remain. 

And  there  was  another  argument  when 
it  was  clear  to  him  that  these  members  would 
not  be  happy  in  their  church  environment  of 
that  time,  owing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  day.  This  argument  was  the  desire  of 
Dr.  Brookes  always  for  planting  and  nourish- 
ing church  colonies.  Here  was  just  such  an 
opportunity  forced  upon  him  by  peculiar  exi- 
gencies of  the  times.  He  accepted  the  chance, 
and  the  history  of  his  long  and  remarkable 
pastorate  over  his  self-made  St.  Louis  church 
began. 

Only  the  angels  can  give  record  of  its 
spiritual  harvests.  The  world  knew  of  it  as 
one  of  the  leading  Presbyterian  churches  of 
any  land  or  clime. 

NEW    CHURCH    WORK    BEGINS. 

The  ruling  elders  chosen  on  that  mem- 
orable Fourth  of  July  for  the  new  church  were: 
E.  Anson  More,  William  S.  Woods,  Samuel 
W.  Barber,  Luther  T.  Woods,  James  L. 
Sloss  and  William  C.  Bean.  On  July  6th,  fol- 
lowing,    these     were     selected     as     deacons: 


SIXTEENTH   AND   WALNUT   STREET   CHURCH-  115 

Samuel  Murdock,  George  P.  Roberts,  Joseph 
B.  Fenby  and  James  R.  Lake. 

These  having  been  properly  organized  as 
a  church,  the  formal  call  to  a  pastor  was  ex- 
tended.    To  quote  the  sessional  records: 

''Unanimous  call  was  extended  to    Rev. 

James    H.    Brookes,  who   at  the    time   was 

preaching  at  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 

of  St.  Louis,  which   he   had  been  serving  in 

pastoral  labors  for  about  six  and  a-half  years.' ' 

On  Wednesday  evening,   July  6th,  1864, 

the  pastor-elect  preached  his  initial  sermon,  in 

the  lecture  room  of  the  new  church's  home,  at 

Sixteenth  and  Walnut   street,    from  the  text 

found  in  Psalm  cxxvii:   i,   ''Except  the  Lord 

build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it." 

After  this   stirring  sermon,   the    trustees 

were  elected.     These  were:  Edward   Bredell, 

Robert  Campbell,  John  B.  S.  Lemoine,  Charles 

Gibson  and  William  H.  Matthews. 

On  the  following  Sabbath  evening,  July 
loth,  after  the  service,  the  deacons  were  "sol- 
emnly set  apart  and  ordained."  On  Monday, 
August  8th,  eighteen  new  letters  applying  for 
membership  were  received  by  the  Session. 
And  from  that  time  on,  at  every  communion 
service,  there  were  additions  by  letter  and  ex- 
amination. 


116  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR. 

There  was  absolutely  no  proselyting 
among  the  membership  of  other  churches,  by 
Dr.  Brookes.  From  the  beginning  of  his  long 
ministry  to  the  end,  Dr.  Brookes  despised  that 
type  of  so-called  "pastoral"  work.  He  once 
told  his  people  that  he  would  rather  be  ''a  dog 
and  bay  the  moon,"  than  do  it. 

The  members  of  other  churches  often 
came  to  hear  him,  Sunday  after  Sunday;  but 
it  was  his  rule  that  not  until  they  rented  pews 
and  handed  in  their  letters  did  they  receive 
calls  from  the  young  pastor  whose  earnestness 
and  eloquence  had  led  them  to  his  doors.  He 
was  even  too  backward  in  this  matter,  some  of 
his  lay  officers  felt;   but  he  so  preferred  to  be. 

From  this  time  on  there  was  a  steady  and 
remarkable  growth  in  the  membership  in  the 
Sixteenth  and  Walnut  Street  Church.  The 
young  elders  worked  hand-in-hand  with  their 
zealous  young  captain.  In  the  Sessional 
records  is  to  be  seen,  often,  such  a  sentence 
as  this,  quoted  from  the  record  of  the  gather- 
ing in  the  pastor's  study,  Monday  evening, 
October  24,  1864:  "The  Moderator  reported 
70  visits,  Elder  W.  S.  Woods,  15;  Sloss,  26; 
Bean,  33;   Barber,  27." 

On  October  6,  1864,  Elders  S.  A.  More 
and  W.  S.  Woods  were    appointed  delegates 


SIXTEENTH   AND   WAI.NUT  STREET   CHURCH.  117 

to  the  meeting  of  St.  Louis  Presbytery,  held 
on  the  loth  of  that  month,  and  were  authorized 
to  secure  the  deed  of  the  church  property  from 
those  members  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  in  whose  names  it  stood.  The  church 
at  Sixteenth  and  Walnut  street,  it  should  be 
recalled,  was  built  for  a  colony  of  that  body. 
It  was  Dr.  Brookes'  expressed  plan,  as  has 
been  shown,  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  St. 
Louis  ministry,  to  build  up  such  a  colony. 

A    MISSIONARY    CHURCH. 

A  feature  of  the  work  of  the  Sixteenth 
and  Walnut  Street  Church  was  its  successful 
Sunday-school  effort.  It  would  cheer  the 
heart  of  the  modern  city  Sunday-school  super- 
intendent to  see  the  hundreds  of  children  which 
used  to  flock  to  this  church  on  the  first  day  of 
the  week. 

There  was  a  large  morning  school,  and 
another  great  gathering,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
Shepherd  Woods,  in  the  afternoon.  The 
former  was  especially  the  school  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  church,  while  the  latter  was  more 
of  a  mission  school. 

There  were  also,  as  always  in  the  history 
of  Dr.  Brookes'  pastorate,  outposts  established 
in  various  sections  of  the  city.    At  those  points 


118  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:      A    MEMOIR. 

faithful  workers,  young  and  old,  conducted 
mission  Sunday-schools. 

The  ladies'  societies  were  strong  and 
active.  Interest  in  missions  was  always  notice- 
able, and  this  church  had  the  honor  of  furnish- 
ing the  first  president  of  the  noble  Woman's 
Southwest  Board  of  Missions.  That  position 
was  held  by  its  incumbent  for  twelve  consecu- 
tive years. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  atypical  "annual 
report"  of  this  church.  That  of  February  7, 
1877,  for  the  preceding  year  was: 

"Number  of  members  January  i,  1876, 
803. 

"Received  by  profession,  ']']\  by  letter, 
50.  Lost  by  dismission  to  other  churches,  29; 
by  death,  13.  Membership,  January  i,  1878, 
888. 

"Baptisms,  adults,  7;   infants,  15. 

"Visits,  by  the  pastor,  600;  by  the  ses- 
sion, 600." 

WESTWARD    HO  ! 

The  church  at  i6th  and  Walnut  street 
gradually  became  hemmed  about  by  factories 
and  stores.  Many  of  the  membership  had 
moved  westward,  and  it  was  believed  that  the 
church  should  follow  them,  for  the  best  good 
of  the  greatest  number  of  its  communicants. 


SIXTEENTH    AND   WALNUT   STREET   CHURCH.  119 

The  minutes,  under  the  date  of  December 
28,  1876,  tell  the  tale: 

''Resolved:  That  we,  the  members  of  this 
church,  now  commonly  called  the  Walnut 
Street  Presbyterian  Church,  do  hereby  author- 
ize '"'  "^  the  trustees  in  whom  the  legal  title 
to  the  lot  and  church  building  is  vested,  to- 
wit,  by  a  certain  deed  from  Carlos  S.  Greeley 
and  Edward  Bredell  to  Robert  Campbell, 
Charles  Gibson,  Edward  Bredell  and  John 
B.  S.  Lemoine,  dated  July,  1864,  to  take  steps 
to  sell  said  lot  and  church  building  at  the  best 
prices  and  on  the  best  terms  they  can  in  their 
judgment  obtain,  and  to  hold  the  proceeds  of 
said  sale,  subject  to  further  orders  of  the  mem- 
bers of  this  Church,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
in  the  erection  of  a  church  building  on  a  lot  of 
ground  situated  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
Washmgton  and  Compton  avenues." 


A  secondary  reason  for  the  removal  to 
the  West  End  should  be  recalled.  It  was  the 
sending  out  of  a  colony  of  about  seventy-five 
members  to  form  the  now  strong  Lafayette 
Park  Presbyterian  Church. 

Dr.  Brookes  is  largely  responsible  for  that 
church,  which  is  so  firmly  rooted  under  Dr. 
S.  C.  Palmer's  lead,  that  not  even  the  memor- 


120  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:     A   MEMOIR. 

able   tornado   of  May  27th,  1896,  could  scat- 
ter it. 

Dr.  Brookes  felt  that  there  should  be  a 
strong  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  South  Side, 
and  told  his  people  so.  Several  churches  had 
been  started  in  that  section,  but  none  were 
able  to  obtain  a  good  foothold.  Again  the 
desire  to  plant  colonies  showed  itself  in  the  acts 
of  the  pastor  of  this  church.  He  practically 
formed  a  strong  colony  by  inducing  some  of 
his  most  important  lay  helpers  to  join  in  it; 
and  then  turned  its  face  southward. 

The  following  sessional  record  is  of  inter- 
est in  this  connection: 

''Monday  evening,  April  15,  1878. 

"Session  met  at  the  pastor's  residence 
and  was  constituted  by  prayer.  Present,  J.  H. 
Brookes,  Moderator,  and  Elders  Butler,  Sloss, 
Wood,  Woods,  Lemoine  and  Barber. 

"The  clerk  reported  having  issued  the  fol- 
lowing letters  of  dismission  to  members  of  this 
church  intending  to  unite  with  others  in  the 
organization  of  a  new  church,  to  be  called  the 
Lafayette  Park   Presbyterian   Church,    to- wit: 

"D.  C.  Jaccard,  Edward  Bredell,  William 
Burg,  Given  Campbell,  Dr.  Wm.  A.  McCand- 
less,  Henry  M.  Noel,  Thomas  G.  Russel,  Dr. 
Robert  C.  Atkinson,  Louis  Matthews,"  and 
others. 


The  Washington  and  Comp- 
ton  Avenue  Church. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  WASHINGTON  AND  COMPTON 
AVENUE  CHURCH. 

HE  LAST  sermon  Dr.  Brookes  preached  at 

the  Sixteenth  and  Walnut  Street  Church 

was  on   April  27,    1879.     On  May  4th, 

of  the  same  year,  he  delivered  his  first  sermon 

in   the  lecture  room  of  the   Washington  and 

Compton  Avenue  Church. 

The  first  service  in  the  church,  as  it  is  to- 
day, was  held  on  December  5,  1880. 


Steadily  the  work  advanced.  Dr.  Brookes 
was  in  his  prime,  and  his  fame  as  a  preacher, 
a  scholar,  and  an  author,  was  world-wide. 

The  great  auditorium  was  filled  with  lis- 
teners every  Sunday.  Practically  all  the  pews 
on  the  main  floor  of  the  vast  room  were 
rented,  and  some  of  those  in  the  gallery  as 
well. 

ITS    MANY-SIDED  WORK. 

The  Washington  and  Compton   Avenue 


123 


124  JAMKS   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

Church  has  always  been  2l  gi'ving  church,  pre- 
eminently. The  ladies  of  the  church  alone, 
one  year,  gave  to  missions  $3,500.  The  morn- 
ing Sunday-school,  a  few  years  ago,  took  up 
the  largest  single  collection  to  missions  of  any 
Presbyterian  Sunday-school  in  the  United 
States  that  year. 

Systematic  giving  has  always  been  incul- 
cated from  the  pulpit. 

The  work  of  the  Washington  and  Comp- 
ton  Avenue  Church,  too,  has  always  been 
many-sided,  and  all  have  been  blessed. 

The  women  of  the  church,  from  the  first, 
were  active  in  behalf  of  home  and  foreign 
missions,  and  also  gave  liberally  of  time  and 
money  in  the  interest  of  the  ''heathen"  in  St. 
Louis,  so  to  speak.  The  pastor's  wife  proved 
herself  to  be  a  splendid  executive  head  in  their 
various  societies. 

The  ladies  labored  for  the  quondam  Pres- 
byterian Home  (now  merged  in  Mrs.  Roger 
Haynes'  great  work  of  faith,  the  Bethesda 
Homes.)  They  assumed  also  a  remaining  part 
of  the  church's  debt,  and  refitted  and  refur- 
nished the  lecture-room.  Their  missionary 
society,  and  working  band,  have  been  models 
in  many  respects.  Their  large  gifts  have  been 
referred  to.     Much  of  the  money  came  from 


WASHINGTON  AND  COMPTON  AVENUE  CHURCH.  125 

those  who  had  to  plan  in  order  to  give  so  gen- 
erously. Missionaries  are  supported  in  the 
foreign  fields,  and  great  boxes  go  yearly  to 
help  out  the  meagre  salaries  of  Home  Mission- 
ary laborers  on  the  frontier  posts.  Boxes  go, 
also,  to  foreign  lands.  Gifts  to  the  various 
Boards  of  the  church  are  encouraged  through 
the  Deacons'  Fund. 

Mission  Sunday-schools  have  always  been 
a  marked  feature  in  the  work  of  this  church. 
Among  these  is  a  chapel  for  colored  Presby- 
terians, a  work  in  which  Mr.  W.  L.  Green,  Jr., 
has  long  been  especially  interested. 

The  roster  of  the  church's  officers  to- 
day— some  of  whom  were  in  similar  offices 
when  the  joint  history  of  Dr.  Brookes  and  the 
Washington  and  Compton  Avenue  Church 
began  to  be — is  as  follows: 

Elders  Samuel  W.  Barber,  William  T. 
Barron,  F.  L.  V.  Brokaw,  Wallace  C.  Butler, 
William  L,  Green,  Jr.,  Edwin  S.  Lemoine, 
Edgar  McClelland. 

S.  W.  Barber  is  the  Clerk  of  the  Session. 

The  Deacons  are:  James  M.  Carpenter, 
Dabner  Carr,  Arthur  A.  Eddy,  Ben  F. 
Edwards,  James  E.  Fogg,  James  I.  McClel- 
land, Ewing  M.  Sloan  and  Geo.  J.  Whitehead. 

The  personnel  of  the  Board  of  Trustees; 


126  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

Elmer  B.  Adams,  James  M.  Carpenter, 
William  T.  Barron,  John  D.  Davis  and  Geo. 
D.  Markham. 

These  gentlemen  all  have  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  church  deep  at  heart.  During  the 
past  year  some  of  them  have  spent  generously 
of  money,  and  their  equally  marketable  time — 
stolen  from  their  business — for  the  church's 
good.  They  stand,  to-day,  united  in  its  ser- 
vice. 

'^A    STUDY    OF    THE    MINUTES. 

To  many  the  reading  of  the  church  min- 
utes is  an  unheard  of  proceeding.  They  hold 
that  no  one  can  read  them  and  keep  awake. 

But  there  are  records  in  the  minutes  of 
this  church  which  are  of  intense  interest  to  the 
lovers  of  Dr.  Brookes'  memory,  and  the  great 
church  he  led. 

For  such,  there  are  here  reproduced  care- 
fully-gleaned extracts — 'iest  we  forget." 
These  will  touch,  here  and  there,  on  events 
which  many  will  recall  with  interest. 

Those  who  care  little  or  nothing  for  "the 
things  which  are  behind"  in  the  history  of  the 
Washington    and    Compton    Avenue    Church 

*Th)s  entire  chapter,  it  may  be  frankly  stated,  is  intended,  practi- 
cally, only  for  the  eyes  of  the  jnembership  of  the  Washington  and 
CowptoB  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  St.  Louis.  Minutiae  is  set  forth 
here  which.,  naturally,  the  general  reader  may  not  be  greatly  inter- 
setedin.  P.  R-   W. 


WASHINGTON  AND  COMPTON  AVENUE  CHURCH.  127 

are  respectfully  urged  to  begin  to  ''skip,'*  right 
here  and  now,  in  this  chapter. 


A  study  of  the  minutes  of  the  church  gives 
evidence  of  a  steady  accession  of  new  mem- 
bers. 

Faithful  search  has  not  shown  a  single 
communion  Sunday,  in  Dr.  Brookes'  active 
pastorate,  when  there  were  no  additions  to  the 
membership,  by  examination  or  letter,  (gener- 
ally both.) 

Fearing  that  their  hard-working  pastor 
would  break  down,  the  church  kindly  took  the 
following  action,  as  quoted  from  the  minutes 
of  February  8,  1884.  Sincere  testimony  is 
borne  to  his  zeal  and  faithfulness. 

"St.  Louis,  February  8,  1884. 

"Whereas,  It  is  evident  that  our  pastor's 
health  has  not  been  re-established  during  the 
past  winter,  and  that  his  present  physical  con- 
dition is  such  that  it  is  desirable  that  he  should 
soon  have  entire  rest  from  obligatory  labor, 
and  that  he  should  even  now  be  saved  from 
all  labor  external  to  this  church,  and  that  in 
order  to  his  relief  a  supply  should  be  provided 
for  the  pulpit,  to  commence  his  service  as  soon 
as  may  be  agreeable  to  our  pastor,  and  to  con- 
tinue for  such  period  as  may  be  necessary  to 


128  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR, 

enable  him,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  through 
complete  rest  from  labor,  to  recover  his  health 
and  resume  his  duties  as  pastor  of  this  church, 
with    the    prospect   of  maintaining   such   con 
firmed  health  for  many  years; 

''And,  whereas,  our  beloved  pastor  has 
given  the  flower  of  his  life  and  the  best  of  his 
energies  and  ability  to  the  service  of  this 
church,  and  has  never  spared  himself,  but  with 
unswerving  fidelity  has  ever  sought  to  pro- 
mote its  highest  interests,  it  is  our  earnest  wish 
and  desire  to  do  whatever  may  be  in  our  pow- 
er to  bring  about  the  restoration  of  his  health." 

At  this  time  Dr.  Brookes  was  in  a  serious 
state,  through  insomnia.  A  trip  to  Europe 
was  taken,  from  which  the  pastor  returned 
greatly  refreshed,  and  strengthened  for  his 
work. 

A  previous  record  (of  November  5,  1882,) 
recalls  the  life,  good  works  and  peaceful  death 
of  an  elder  very  dear  to  Dr.  Brookes,  James 
L.  Sloss.  The  two  had  been  most  intimate. 
It  is  quoted: 

"The  following  minutes  on  the  death  of 
Elder  James  L.  Sloss,  were  adopted  and 
ordered  to  be  recorded: 

**On  the  T7th  day  of  August,  1882,  James 
L.  Sloss  was  absent  from  the  body    and    pres- 


WASHINGTON  AND  COMPTON  AVENUE  CHURCH.  129 

ent  with  the  Lord.  He  was  elected  a  ruling 
elder  of  this  church  at  the  date  of  its  organiza- 
tion, July  4,  1864;  and  for  a  period  of  more 
than  eighteen  years  he  conscientiously  and 
wisely  discharged  the  duties  of  the  important 
office  to  which  he  was  chosen  by  his  brethren. 

**  During  the  whole  of  that  period  he  was 
also  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school, 
or  the  teacher  of  a  Bible  class,  and  through 
the  last  few  years  of  his  mortal  life  he  was 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  In  all  of 
these  positions  he  was  singularly  faithful  to  his 
trust,  and  never,  unless  absent  from  the  city, 
or  confined  to  his  home  by  sickness,  was  his 
place  vacant  in  any  appointed  meeting  of  the 
church.  Often,  indeed,  in  declining  health, 
when  it  seemed  rash  to  expose  himself  to  in- 
clement weather,  he  insisted  on  the  privilege 
of  attending  the  regular  services  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. 

"It  is  not,  therefore,  an  empty  form  of  ex- 
pression, when  the  session  record  their  deep 
sense  of  personal  bereavement,  and  of  the 
great  loss  sustained  by  the  church  in  the  de- 
parture of  their  beloved  brother." 

Here  are  two  typical  ''Reports  to  Presby- 
tery," selected  at  random. 


130  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

"Report  to  Presbytery,  April  17,  1882. 
(For  the  year  ending  March  3I;  1882.) 

"Number  of  Elders,  5;  number  of 
Deacons,  11. 

"Added  on  examination,  35;  added  on 
certificate,  51. 

Total  communicants,  588. 

"Baptized,  adults,  9;  baptized,  infants,  25. 

"Sunday-school  membership,  830. 

CONTRIBUTIONS. 

Home  Missions .5^2,065   00 

Foreign  Missions 733  00 

Publication 89  00 

Ministerial  Relief 100  00 

General  Assembly 66  50 

Congregational 10,799  00 

Miscellaneous 3>i52  00 

"Report  to  Presbytery.  (For  year  ending 
March  31,  1885.) 

"Number  of  Elders,  5;  number  of  Dea- 
cons, 9. 

"Added  on  examination,  28;  added  on 
certificate,  17. 

"Total  communicants,  664. 

"Baptized,  adults,  5;   infants,  12. 

"Sunday-school  membership,  1,116. 


WASHINGTON  AND  COMPTON  AVENUE  CHURCH.  131 

CONTRIBUTIONS. 

Home   Missions $i ,902  00 

Foreign        * ' 820  00 

Church  Erection 690  00 

Congregational 9,980  00 

Miscellaneous 5^863  00 

Relief  Fund 256  00 

General  Assembly 76  44 

In  November,  1885,  the  need  of  additional 
elders  and  deacons  was  felt,  and  on  November 
25th  the  following  were  chosen  to  assist  in 
the  management  of  the  great  church: 

William  T.  Barron,  Dr.  W.  L.  Brokaw 
and  James  B.  Sharpe. 

New  deacons  were  elected  by  the  congre- 
gation two  evenings  later,  but   of  those,    only 
two,   Benjamin    F.    Edwards    and    George   J. 
Whitehead  have  been  serving  of  late. 

THE    FUTURE. 

And  before  the  church,  spreads  the  future. 

Dr.  Brookes'  mantle  has  fallen  on  Dr. 
Frank  W.  Sneed's  broad  shoulders. 

This  young  pastor  has  left  a  noble  record 
behind  at  Columbia,    Mo.,    and    Minneapolis. 
That  past  is  an  earnest   of  his  future  useful  ~ 
ness. 

His  reverence  for  the  whole  Bible,  and 
for  the  Premillenial  hope   which  Dr,    Brookes 


132  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

championed,  is  strong.  He  has  proven  him 
self,  already,  a  man  who  shuns  no  hard  work, 
and  who  has  able  executive  ability.  He  is 
possessed,  too,  of  winning  graces  of  mind  and 
body;  and  knows  how  to  make  those  useful 
people — friends. 

His  sermons  are  doctrinal,  strong  and 
forcibly  delivered. 

His  fund  of  sound  sense  is  refreshingly 
large. 


The  church  has  every  reason  to  take  cour- 
age and  press  on,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  as 
their  late  beloved  pastor  would  tenderly  urge 
them  to  do  were  he  alive  to-day. 


The  Preacher  and  Pastor. 


T/<e  Gosp'/ ,,.  -Es/fr,>. 


I  !JIi't"^''"I  ""  ^  5**^'  'A  2^2-tt»/K  /2 .  Z  *  'xv  *-#' AlX.  /^  X  «  /KZ^.  £'"'^.^.i  i"S- 1  '-fX  ll'S'-L^I'  <-  ^'  CJn,  t  Siy,S^.,.L 


I        I  ^ '  ^^-A—  ' p.  __ 


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,S     Lr'  J     -■  —  —  /■■"'■^•r^'/.i.JeiXXXlS  TnoUt  I G  iffftuV  f  ,1  J-i>vJ./0.?ftvl  Si>  Wl:/ tw,  Wi' w/u,.  H,  i^v>r(y^i 
'■\''jif^^^''-vh?sLaiXiC/,7n^lJM./7:ArCfXV/':/e*rX^  Tree  .-/v/T.  l\j,.  /,„/J...  .  " 


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j^^-'jJa^a«(  l,.yv.i3i^.w^Liy.Ju*»xju:y^ ji>-i(.  iiz^K)w»i2S--2y;A>J:fxy ii^^i.i'^-'u 26^...,  s^ju  l^„,Hu.,'  'J 

.^OUUA^^.J.  :^c.J:MJ.>UUjlJUi3:cno(>^S7:XUa.lOJIXMJU^>L4,Xit-lsZt-lM>,iJi  "Bri.'^-K    "<.  Grr^Uyn.jC^ 

f        _  : — — —  '  '  /  ■^  •  ■    yje  a,  u  sr,.di  Bt"  lS'<!'  I  PS  J  rl  ?,  K    >,.,„,,  ^ 

I  "iG^'.l.U  tSd.at  fe/.-JL,  ,i^/     'I    .-,    ■^'^'''^^"'•■'  'S'l  ^■'  «  i"-*^  ^M-^o-xJ  ZJ-M.^l.s  G,  .J.I.    A.,  Ar7v   ' 


Fac-similc  of  an  interleaved  page  in  one  of  Dr.  Brookes*  Bibles. 

Each  division  i.«  an  entire  sermon .     In  the  Bible  in  question  there  are  800  such 
sermons.   They  stand  complete;  he  never  wrote  an  additional 
line  on  them. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  PREACHER  AND  PASTOR. 

^R.  Brookes  entered  the  ministry  because, 
as  he  often  said,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture:  ''Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not 
the  Gospel."  There  was  no  youthful  cant  in 
James  Brookes,  the  boy.  He  had  not  the 
slightest  desire  to  become  a  minister  then. 
That  has  been  pointed  out.  He  had  hoped  to 
be  a  soldier,  and  it  took  all  his  beloved  moth- 
er's eloquent  arguments  to  keep  him  out  of 
West  Point,  when  the  doors  there  swung  out- 
ward to  him. 

Only  after  a  long  struggle  did  he  feel  that 
the  call  to  preach  had  been  heard  clearly  and 
very  loudly;  and  right  here  it  is  fitting  to  say 
that  Dr.  Brookes  often  questioned  whether  all 
young  men  who  entered  the  ministry  searched 
their  very  souls  enough  in  ascertaining  whether 
the  "calls"  were  really  heard  by  them;  whether 
they  did  not,  in  fact,  sometimes  strain  their 
ears  for  them.  las 


136  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR. 

Brookes  went  into  that  highest  calling  as 
he  would  have  gone  into  West  Point.  He 
prepared  to  fight,  and  to  stand  fast  forever 
against  any  one,  or  every  one  if  necessary,  for 
what  he  held  to  be  true. 

As  a  minister  he  was  often  the  same  icon- 
oclast that  had  caused  the  shaking  of  numerous 
heads  at  the  seminary.  There  was  no  minis- 
terial livery  on  his  person,  no  intonation  in  his 
utterances.  He  demanded  respect  for  himself, 
not  because  his  was  a  sacred  calling.  He 
asked  **no  benefit  of  clergy." 

OPPOSED    TO    THE    PULPIT    POLITICIAN. 

Early  he  showed  by  a  remarkable  pulpit 
utterance  that  his  convictions  as  to  the  pulpit 
politician  were  deep  and  real.  Later,  during 
the  trying  days  of  the  early  6o's,  he  was  sim- 
ply carrying  to  a  logical  conclusion  those  same 
convictions. 

In  a  lecture  on  the  "Life  of  Dr.  Nettleton," 
delivered  at  Dayton  in  1856,  concerning  that 
famous  preacher  of  a  day  that  is  gone,  he 
pointedly  said: 

*'He  did  not  then  present  to  the  world,  as 
is  the  case  in  all  portions  of  our  country,  the 
sad  and  shocking  spectacle  of  the  sacred  pul- 
pit turned  into  a  political  rostrum,  from  which 
savage  denunciations  and  fierce  harangues  are 


THK    PRKACHKR    AND    PASTOR.  Iwi7 

Uttered  to  stir  up  strife,  and  lead  men's  thoughts 
away  from  the  contemplation  of  heavenly  and 
Divine  themes.  He  felt  that  the  Bible  pre- 
sented subjects  enough  to  occupy  his  time  and 
challenge  the  mightiest  efforts  of  his  intellect, 
and  that  the  one  business  of  ministers  as  min- 
isters is  simply  to  present  the  message  of  God 
to  a  perishing  world. 

**He  saw,  as  doubtless  you  have  seen,  as 
certainly  I  have  seen,  that  when  preachers 
lose  the  spirit  of  their  station  and  descend  to 
dabble  in  the  mud-pool  of  politics,  they  invari- 
ably get  dirtier  than  any  other  men. 

''They  are  more  furious  in  their  utter- 
ances, more  relendess  in  their  severity,  more 
uncompromising  in  their  prejudices. 

**He  had  his  own  opinions  on  all  proper 
occasions,  and  at  all  proper  times,  no  doubt,  he 
freely  avowed  them;  but  he  protested,  as  all 
good  men  should,  against  devoting  God's  day 
and  God's  house,  and  God's  desk,  to  any  other 
purpose  than  the  mission  which  we  are  sent  to 
accomplish." 

A    NATURAL    ORATOR. 

From  his  earliest  pulpit  experiences.  Dr. 
Brookes  was  a  natural  orator. 

He  was  tall  and  of  an  exceptionally  hand- 
some and  commanding  presence.     His  voice 


138  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

was  clear  and  strong.  His  gestures,  never 
studied,  gave,  naturally,  force  and  emphasis  to 
his  utto^rances.  He  v/as  the  very  embodied 
antithesis  of  pulpit  afTectation  of  any  sort  or 
condition.  And  he  never  preached  a  sermon 
without  impressing  his  hearers,  at  once,  with  a 
deep  sense  of  his  tremendous  earnestness  and 
sincerity. 

While  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry 
it  was  his  habit  to  write  out  in  entirety  his  ser- 
mons (a  custom  he  gave  up  many  years  ago), 
yet  he  never  read  them  in  the  pulpit. 

His  memory  was  marvelous.  He  was 
famed  for  his  absolute  command  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Scriptures,  and  his  sermons 
abounded  in  copious  quotations.  Yet  in  his 
earliest  ministry  he  was  not  the  strictly  Biblical 
preacher  that  he  soon  became;  that  is  to  say, 
he  quoted  also  the  science  and  literature  of  the 
day. 

But  soon,  while  still  keeping  fully  abreast 
of  science  and  literature,  he  ceased  to  quote 
such  works  in  his  sermons,  and  drew  his  audi- 
tors' thoughts  only  to  the  Book  of  Books. 

He  actuary  struggled,  too,  against  his 
natural  bent  as  an  orator,  fie  held  hiiusclf 
under;  it  was  his  wish  to  do  nothing,  to  say 
nothing,  that  could  in  the  slightest  degree  de- 


THK   PREACHER   AND    PASTOR.  139 

tract  from  the  plain,  strong,  Gospel  message. 

As  to  his  splendid  oratorical  gifts,  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote  is  apropos.  A  certain  man 
of  intelligence  and  taste,  though  not  a  Chris- 
tian, frequently  heard  Dr.  Brookes  preach. 
This  man  was  a  constant  attendant  at  the 
theaters  of  St.  Louis,  and  was  considered  an 
eminent  critic. 

One  Sunday,  at  the  close  of  one  of  Dr. 
Brookes'  sermons,  he  thoughtfully  said,  re- 
ferring to  the  greatest  American  tragedian: 
"In  that  man  Brookes  the  stage  has  lost  a 
Booth." 


There  are  those  who  may  have  supposed 
that  Dr.  Brookes,  in  late  days,  did  not  stoop — 
so  to  speak — to  read  the  current  literature  of 
his  day;  because,  forsooth,  his  pulpit  utter- 
ances were  not  tinged  with  references  to  such 
works,  as  is  so  general  in  modern  sermonizing. 

But  that  was  a  great  mistake.  He  did 
read  them;  he  was  a  wonderful  reader,  with  a 
wonderful  memory  for  what  he  read;  but  he 
did  not  "stoop"  to  quote  "such  stuff,"  (as  he 
would  dub  it)  in  his  sermons. 

Many  of  his  most  wonderful  sermons  are 
contained  in  a  few  notes  in  the  margin  of  one 
of  his  many  marked    Bibles.     Generally,    per- 


140  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

haps  always,  of  later  years,  the  sermons  fell 
into  seven  heads, — the  sacred  number  of  the 
Scriptures. 

These  sermons  were  first  of  all  Scriptural, 
logical,  constructed  in  lucid  English,  carefully 
planned,  abounding  in  striking  illustrations; 
smiting  and  sparing  not  the  sinner,  but  at  the 
same  time  urging  him  to  cease  from  sin;  full 
of  fire,  and  frequently  enlivened  by  a  delicious 
bit  of  humor. 

But  it  is  needless,  and  also  futile,  to  dis- 
cuss Dr.  Brookes'  preaching.  No  written 
words  can  describe  it  adequately. 

Those  who  heard  him  preach  know, — and 
can  never  forget.  It  cannot  be  explained  to 
others  now. 

He  was  in  the  class  of  the  Great  Preach- 
ers of  the  World.  Even  those  who  criticised 
him,  in  and  out  of  the  ministry  admit  that. 
(Being  a  great  man  he  had,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  a  great  man's  enemies  and  fault- 
finders.) 

THE    PASTOR. 

As  a  young  pastor  he  was  most  popular 
with  all  classes. 

He  was  of  a  marked  social  disposition. 
In  his  earlier  years,  and  in  middle  age,  before 
ill  health  came  upon  him,  he  was  fond  of  mak- 


THE   PREACHER  AND   PASTOR. 


141 


ing  "pastoral  calls."  It  was  not  done  from 
any  sense  of  duty,  and  he  never  forgot  that 
such  were  pastoral  calls.  They  were  used  as 
occasions  for  sowing  seeds  that  resulted  in 
soul-winning. 

His  many-sided  experiences  among  men, 
and  his  utter  freedom  from  clerical  habiliments 
and  formalities,  opened  the  way  for  him  to 
many  young  men's  hearts.  He  loved  to  hear 
and  tell  of  comical  events.  His  sense  of  humor 
was  strongly  developed. 

That  gift  of  being  "good  company"  (in  the 
true  sense  of  that  expression)  to  all  sorts  and 
condition  of  men — though  always  in  a  dignified 
manner — was  a  marked  feature  in  the  pastoral 
work  of  Dr.  Brookes.  He  was  what  modern 
politicians  would  call  a  "good  mixer"  among 
men. 

One  of  the  stories  handed  down  in  his 
family  was  a  palpable  hit  against  the  anti-cler- 
ical clothes  he  wore  when  a  young  man;  from 
heedlessness,  not  from  any  design. 

At  a  hotel  he  was  once  approached  by  a 
professional  gambler,  who  knowingly  invited 
the  tall,  handsome  young  stranger  of  some- 
what dashing — and  anything  but  clerical — ap- 
pearance, to  join  him  in  a  joint  raid  upon  the 
pocket-books  of  other  guests. 


142  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:     A    MEMOIR. 

The  ''black-leg''  actually  took  Dr.  Brookes 
to  be  a  fellow  gambler! 


When  a  young  pastor  in  St.  Louis,  after 
leaving  the  Second  Church,  he  was  surrounded 
by  a  number  of  young  elders  and  deacons, 
among  whom  he  was  an  earnest,  helpful  broth- 
er. The  relation  between  pastor  and  lay  offi- 
cers was  an  ideal  one.  They  met  together 
for  counsel  as  members  of  a  family  might. 
And  when  the  formalities  were  finished  the 
session  meeting  partook  of  the  nature  of  a 
happy  reunion. 

On  one  memorable  occasion  there  were 
so  many  good  stories  to  be  told  that  there  were 
a  number  of  distracted  wives,  who  sat  up  won- 
dermg  and  waiting  till  the  "wee  sma'   hours." 

As  years  were  added,  and  ill  health,  with 
accompanying  depression  of  spirits,  came,  the 
pastoral  duties  could  not  so  frequently  be 
attended  to.  Yet  to  the  last  Dr.  Brookes  was 
a  "home-going  pastor,"  who  made  "a  church- 
going  people."  Hundreds  of  visits  were  made 
by  him  even  during  his  last  years. 

It  was  at  times  when  death  entered  the 
home  of  one  of  his  dear  people  that  he  was  at 
his  best  as  a  loving  shepherd  of  his  flock. 

His  power  to  comfort  bruised  hearts    was 


THE   PREACHER   AND   PASTOR.  143 

God-given.  Hundreds  testify  to  this.  Many 
who  were  led  to  accept  Christ  through  him 
had  the  way  opened  by  the  tenderness  and 
helpfulness  of  his  ministrations  at  the  death- 
bed of  those  near  and  dear. 

He  had  suffered  as  no  pen  can  describe, 
in  the  deaths  of  his  two  beautiful  daugh- 
ters. Having  supped  the  cup  of  woe  to  its 
dregs,  he  could  truly  "weep  with  those  who 
wept." 


"How  I  Became  a  Pre- 
lennialist." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

'*HOW    I  BECAME  A  PRE-MILLENNI- 
ALIST." 

lO  RECORD  of  Dr.  Brookes'  life  and  works 
would  be  complete  without  careful  ref- 
erence to  his  advocacy  of  the  pre-mil- 
lennial  belief.  Far  better  than  any  attempt  of 
another  to  tell  the  history  of  his  life  from  this 
stand-point,  is  it  to  quote  his  own  words: 

''HOW    I    BECAME    A    PRE-MILLENNIALIST." 

"Friends  have  asked  me  to  print  the  story 
of  my  conversion  to  pre-millennial  truth. 
During  the  first  years  of  my  ministry  the  sub- 
ject had  never  occupied  my  attention.  There 
was  a  vague  and  indefinite  idea  in  my  mind 
that  after  a  long  interval,  probably  many  thous- 
ands of  years,  there  would  be  a  general  resur- 
rection and  a  general  judgment;  but  even  then 
there  was  no  thought  of  our  Lord's  personal 
return  to  the  earth.  It  was  supposed  that  at 
some  place,  perhaps  in  the  air,   all  would  to- 

147 


148  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

gether,  or  one  by  one,  hear  the  sentence  that 
must  fix  their  eternal  destiny. 

''Apart  from  this  no  sermon  had  ever  been 
preached  in  my  hearing  about  the  coming  of 
the  Lord.  No  allusion  was  ever  made  to  it  in 
the  course  of  my  imperfect  theological  training. 
No  book  concerning  it  had  ever  been  read. 
In  my  boyhood  people  had  heard,  even  in  the 
distant  and  obscure  part  of  the  South  where 
my  mother  lived,  that  Mr.  Miller,  of  New 
England,  had  fixed  upon  the  day  of  Christ's 
appearing,  and  it  caused  considerable  excite- 
ment. But  the  day  passed  without  any  unus- 
ual occurrence;  and  those  who  looked  for  His 
coming  were  regarded  as  cranks,  if  not  actually 
crazy. 

"The  'l^heological  and  Literary  Journal,' 
edited  by  Mr.  D.  N.  Lord,  of  New  York,  was 
taken,  but  his  articles  on  Eschatology  were 
skipped  in  reading.  In  fact,  the  entire  theme 
was  utterly  distasteful  to  me,  and  even  offen- 
sive. My  eyes  were  closed  and  my  heart 
sealed  to  the  plain  testimonies  of  God's  Word; 
and  the  plain  references  to  the  second  coming 
were  either  passed  over,  or  at  least  they  made 
no  impression  whatever. 

"At  last  a  morning  came  when  it  was 
necessary  to  read  the  book  of  Revelation  in 


HOW  I  BECAME  A  l>RK-MILIvKNNIAI.IST.  149 

family  worship.  It  has  always  been  my  habit 
to  assemble  the  members  of  my  household  im- 
mediately after  breakfast  for  reading  the  Scrip- 
ture and  prayer,  each  one  reading  a  verse  in 
turn.  On  that  particular  morning,  discovering 
that  the  book  of  Revelation  was  before  us, 
some  other  place  in  the  Bible  was  found;  and 
when  the  family  went  out  of  the  study  the 
question  was  put  to  my  conscience  and  heart. 
Why  did  you  omit  the  last  book  God  has  giv- 
en us? 

' '  The  reply  made  to  myself  was.  Because 
I  do  not  understand  it.  The  book  is  so  full  of 
strange  beasts  and  mysterious  symbols,  it  does 
me  no  good.  But  did  God  make  a  mistake  in 
putting  that  book  into  the  canon  of  sacred 
Scripture?  That  it  had  a  right  there  was  as 
clear  as  the  inspiration  of  John's  gospel  or  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans;  and  after  all  might  it 
not  be  my  fault  that  it  was  so  meaningless? 

"Convicted  and  condemned  at  the  bar  of 
my  own  conscience,  I  opened  the  book  and 
read  it  through  at  a  single  sitting.  My  mind 
was  engaged  and  interested  in  an  unusual  de- 
gree; and  my  attention  w^as  arrested  by  a  state- 
ment in  the  very  beginning,  'Blessed  is  he  that 
readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  this 
prophecy,    and   keep  those   things  which  are 


150  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

written  therein.'  (Rev.  i.  3).  It  struck  me 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  had  said  nothing  about 
understanding  it,  but,  'Blessed  is  he  thatread- 
eth.' 

"Enough  was  known  about  the  prophecies 
in  general  to  remember  that  the  book  of  Daniel 
and  the  book  of  Revelation  bear  a  close  resem- 
blance to  each  other;  and  so  the  former  book 
was  read  with  intense  interest,  and  then  the 
latter  book  again,  at  one  time;  and  in  an  hour 
or  two  it  was  seen  that  in  Daniel  the  Spirit  of 
God  explains  some  of  the  symbols,  as  the 
great  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  the  four 
wild  beasts,  representing  the  four  mighty  world 
powers.  This  gave  a  little  light  upon  my  path- 
way through  the  book  of  Revelation. 

"Then  it  occurred  to  me  to  commence 
with  the  Old  Testament  prophets  and  the 
whole  of  the  New  Testament,  with  a  lead 
pencil  in  my  hand,  marking  every  passage  and 
verse  that  bears  upon  the  future  of  the  church 
and  the  world.  That  there  were  many  other 
prophecies  before  reaching  the  book  of  Isaiah 
was  unknown  to  me  in  my  ignorance;  but  the 
four  greater  prophets  and  the  twelve  minor 
prophets,  togetr.er  with  the  entire  New  Testa- 
ment, were  carefully  and  prayerfully  perused. 
Probably  a  month  passed  in  the  investigation, 


HOW  I  BECAME  A  PREMILI«ENNIALIST.  151 

and  not  a  single  human  book  nor  comment, 
nor  exposition  of  any  sort,  was  touched. 

**  Having  gathered  up  the  marked  pas- 
sages and  brought  them  together,  three  con- 
clusions were  definitely  reached.  First,  Jesus 
Christ  is  coming  back  to  this  world  as  truly, 
bodily,  visibly,  personally  as  that  He  was  born 
in  Bethlehem  of  Judea.  Second,  things  shall 
not  always  remain  as  they  are  now,  but  'nation 
shall  not  lift  up  a  sword  against  nation,  neither 
shall  they  learn  war  any  more'  (Isa.  ii.  4); 
'The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid'  (Isa  xi.  6), 
*The  inhabitants  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick;  the 
people  that  dwell  therein  shall  be  forgiven 
their  iniquity*  (Isa.  xxxiii.  24);  'The  earth 
shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea'  (Hab. 
ii:i4).  Third,  this  glorious  change  shall  not 
precede,  but  succeed  that  glorious  coming. 

"This  was  many  years  ago,  and  the  con- 
clusions then  reached  have  been  deepened  by 
every  day's  study  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  by 
the  actual  condition  then  and  now  of  the 
church  and  the  world.  It  has  made  me  a 
lonely  man,  but  it  has  been  an  unspeakable 
blessing  to  my  soul,  especially  in  times  of  sore 
affliction  and  discouragement.     It  has  uproot- 


152  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

ed  selfish  ambition  and  a  desire  for  human  ap- 
plause, and  caused  me  to  aim  at  least  in  bear- 
ing true  testimony  for  our  now  rejected 
Lord,  with  a  longing  to  be  well  pleasing  to 
Him  at  His  coming.  Especially  does  'that 
blessed  hope'  throw  a  gleam  of  glory  upon  the 
graves  of  my  beloved  dead.  It  frets  me  no 
longer  because  many  of  my  dear  brethren  can 
not  see  this  precious  truth,  which  shines  like 
the  sun  at  noonday  from  the  Word  of  God,  and 
which  is  a  veritable  key  to  unlock  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Scriptures.  John  the  Baptist  was 
a  faithful  witness  when  he  said,  *a  man  can 
receive  nothing  except  it  be  given  him  from 
heaven'  (Jno.  iii.  27).  God  forbid  that  a  poor 
sinner  should  judge  them,  for  to  their  own 
Master  they  stand  or  fall." 


The  last  article  Dr.  Brookes  ever  wrote 
on  this  subject,  so  dear  to  him.,  appeared  in  the 
May  (1897)  number  of  The  Truth.  It  was 
finished  but  a  few  weeks  before  his  death. 

It  clearly  sets  forth  his  views,  and  should 
settle  all  doubts  as  to  any  mistaken  statements 
that  he  had  changed  his  fixed  principles  as  to 
the  Rapture  of  the  Saints  previous  to  the  great 
Tribulation,  (see  italics  in  following  quota- 
tion), or  any  other  phase  of  the  subject.  The 
article  is: 


HOW  I  BKCAMK  A  PRK-MILLKNNTAUST.  153 

"WHO    SHALL    BE    CAUGH  f    UP  ? 

"This  question  is  distinctly  answered  by 
the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  'This  we 
say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the  Lord' — not 
the  word  of  Peter,  or  James,  or  John — 'that  we 
which  are  alive,  and  remain  unto  the  coming 
of  the  Lord,  shall  not  prevent* — precede  or  go 
before — 'them  which  are  asleep.  For  the  Lord 
Himself — not  death,  nor  the  Holy  Spirit,  nor 
any  providential  event — 'shall  descend  from 
Heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  an 
archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God;  and 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first:  then  we 
which  are  alive  and  remain,  shall  be  caught  up 
together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the 
Lord  in  the  air:  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with 
the  Lord,'  i  Thess.  iv.  15,  17. 

"There  are  many  beloved  brethren  who 
think  that  only  pre-millennialists  shall  be 
caught  up,  claiming  that  the  promise  is  *unto 
all  them  that  love  His  appearing,'  2  Tim.  iv.  8; 
'unto  them  that  look  for  Him,'  Heb.  ix.  28. 
But  there  are  tens  of  thousands,  now  sleeping 
in  the  grave,  who  were,  beyond  all  doubt,  earn- 
est and  faithful  Christians  in  life,  and  yet  they 
never  heard  of  our  Lord's  personal  return,  or 
at  least  never  grasped  its  meaning.  They 
surely  are  in  Christ;    and  'the  dead  in  Christ 


154  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

shall  rise  first.'  If  they  come  forth  from  the 
slumber  of  the  tomb,  whether  they  were  pre- 
or  post-millennialists,  it  is  certain  that  there 
can  be  no  partial  rapture. 

"  'Every  man  in  his  own  order,'  band  or 
cohort;  'Christ  the  first  fruits;  afterward  they 
that  are  Christ's,  at  His  command,'  i  Cor. 
XV.  23.  If  they  are  Christ's  by  faith  in  Him 
as  their  Lord  and  Redeemer,  they  shall  be 
His  at  His  coming,  even  though  they  have 
not  looked  forward  to  His  advent  with  hope 
and  joy.  'Behold,  I  show  you  a  mystery:  we 
shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed 
in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the 
last  trump:  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we 
shall  be  changed,'  i  Cor.  xv.  51,  52.  Here 
there  is  obviously  no  difference  between  those 
living  and  those  sleeping,  when  the  Lord 
comes  again.  Whether  changed  or  raised, 
they  all  share  alike  in  the  glory  of  His  second 
advent. 

"  'Our  enrollment  as  citizens  is  in  heaven; 
from  whence  also  we  look  for  the  Savior,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  change  the  body 
of  our  humiliation,  that  it  may  be  fashioned 
like  unto  His  glorious  body,  according  to  the 
working  whereby  He  is  able  to    even    subdue 


HOW  I  BKCAMK  A  PRE-MILLKNNIALIST.  155 

all  things  unto  Himself,'  Phil  iii.  20,  21.  It  is 
evident  that  all  believers  are  here  included, 
without  reference  to  their  attainments  in  knowl- 
edge, and  all  will  have  part  in  the  resurrection, 
and  in  the  splendid  transformation  that  shall 
then  be  experienced. 

'But  the  thought  that  only  pre-millenni- 
alists  are  caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air,  plainly  implies  some  superior  merit  on 
their  part,  either  of  acquaintance  with  the  truth, 
or  faithfulness  in  conduct.  Thus  a  self-com- 
placent and  self-righteous  spirit  is  uncon- 
sciously fostered,  which  is  in  every  way  most 
injurious.  There  are  many  who  believe  in 
Christ's  pre-millennial  coming  as  a  doctrine, 
and  yet  are  living  far  from  Him  practically; 
sometimes,  at  least,  being  surpassed  in  their 
devotedness  by  post-millennialists — w^ho  know 
nothing,  or  care  nothing,  for  the  truth  concern- 
ing His  second  advent. 

"So  there  are  all  degrees  of  faithfulness, 
from  those  who  have  scarcely  more  than  a 
'name  to  live,'  to  those  who  are  consecrated, 
loving,  obedient  children  of  God.  What  meas- 
ure of  faithfulness  must  be  achieved  in  order 
to  entitle  us  to  look  for  the  reward  of  being 
caught  up  at  the  Lord's  return?  Alas!  any 
who  have  a  proper  estimate  of  themselves  will 


156  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

be  the  last  to  boast  of  meriting  reward,  and 
will  gladly  attribute  all  they  are,  all  that  they 
have,  all  that  they  hope  to  be,  and  shall  have 
forever,  to  free,  sovereign,  unmerited  grace. 
They  are  ready  to  listen  to  the  rebuke  of  the 
Holy  Ghost:  'Who  maketh  thee  to  differ?  and 
what  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive? 
Now^  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou 
glory,  as  if  thou  didst  not  receive  it'?  i  Cor. 
iv.  7. 

"There  is  another  fact  to  be  considered  in 
pondering  this  question,  and  that  is  the  unity 
of  the  church.  'For  as  the  body  is  one,  and 
hath  many  members,  and  all  the  members  of 
that  one  body,  being  many,  are  one  body;  so 
also  is  the  Christ.  For  by  one  Spirit  are  we 
all  baptized  into  one  body,'  i  Cor.  xii.  11,  12. 
'The  church,  which  is  His  body,  the  fullness  of 
Him  that  filleth  all  in  all,'  Eph.  i.  23.  It  does 
not  seem  according  to  Scripture  that  our  Lord 
would  have  one  part  of  His  body  asleep  in  the 
grave,  and  another  part  raised  in  glory;  one 
part  amid  the  entanglements  of  the  great  trib- 
ulation on  the  earth,  and  another  part  caught 
up  to  meet  Him  in  the  air.  Hence  it  is  im- 
possible to  sympathize  with  many  dear  breth- 
ren in  their  view  of  a  partial  rapture. 

''It  is  equally  impossible  to  accept  the  teaching  of 


HOW  I  BECAME  A  PRE-MII.I.ENNIAI,IST.  157 

many  other  excelle^it  brethren,  that  the  church,  the  real 
church,  the  regenerated  ones,  those  washed  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb,  and  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  fesus 
Christ,    must  pass   through    the  great   tribulation,  or 

that  there  is  no  perceptible  difference  between 
the  coming  the  'Lord for  His  saints,  and  His 
appearing  ^Hh  them.  There  will  doubtless  be 
a  vast  multitude  calling  themselves  Christians, 
over  whom  the  tribulation  judgments  will  roll; 
but  to  the  true  believer  the  promise  of  the 
coming  Lord  is  addressed  with  sweet  assur- 
ance, 'Because  thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  my 
patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  out  of  the  hour 
of  temptation  which  will  come  upon  all  the 
world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth,' 
Rev.  iii.  lo. 

"These  brethren  are  in  the  habit  of  quot- 
ing such  passages  as,  'This  gospel  of  the  King- 
dom shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a 
witness  to  all  nations,'  and  'After  a  long  time 
the  Lord  of  those  servants  cometh,  and  reck- 
oneth  with  them,'  Matt.  xxiv.  14;  xxv.  19;  but 
it  is  difficult  ot  see  the  bearing  of  the  texts 
upon  the  tribulation.  The  Holy  Spirit  certi- 
fies in  many  places  that  when  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  finally  appears  in  manifested  majesty, 
all  the  saints  will  appear  with  Him,  Zech.  xiv. 
5;   I  Thess.  iii.  13;   Jude  14,  etc.      There  must 


158  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR. 

be,  therefore,  an  interval  longer  or  shorter  be- 
tween His  coming  for  His  people,  and  His 
coming  with  them. 

"Besides,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  He  said 
again  and  again  to  His  disciples,  'Watch,  there- 
fore;  for  ye  know    not  what   hour    your    Lord 
doth  come,'  Matt.  xxiv.  42;     'What   I  say  unto 
you,  I    say  unto  all,  Watch,'    Mark  xiii.    2>T^ 
*  Blessed  are  those    servants  whom   the    Lord, 
when   He  cometh,  shall  find  watching,'  Luke, 
xii.  37;   'If  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself, 
that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also,'   John 
xiv.  3;    'Surely  I  come  quickly,'  Rev.  xxii.  20. 
There  is  not  an  intimation  that  we  are    to   ex- 
pect any  other   event  to    precede    and    signal 
His  advent,  but  to  keep  our  eye  intently  fixed 
upon  Himself,  and  our  ear  attentively  listening 
for  his  approaching  footsteps.     If  'we  postpone  His 
retur7i  until  after  the  tribulation,  it  is  useless  to  watch 
now;   and  all  the  hopes,  and  joys,  and   glories, 
and  the  meeting  with  our  dead,  and  the  cessa- 
tion of  sorrow,  and  the  sweetness  of  satisfied 
desire,  must  be  put  off  to  a  future  time." 


The  Bible  Scholar, 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  BIBLE  SCHOLAR. 

|ANY  and  many  a  time  Dr.  Brookes  has 
been  asked:  "How  did  you  obtain 
your  mastery  of  the  Scriptures?"  His 
answer  was  to  the  point: 

"By  studying  it." 

His  idea  of  Bible  study,  however,  was 
very  different  from  that  of  most  men.  So 
familiar  was  he  with  the  Scriptures,  that  it  has 
been  said  in  all  seriousness  by  admirers:  "If 
all  the  Bibles  were  destroyed,  Dr.  Brookes 
could  produce  one  from  memory." 

On  one  occasion,  while  preaching  at  a 
conference  in  Asbury  Park,  New  Jersey,  the 
editor  of  a  New  York  semi-religious  publica- 
tion was  present.  He  had  heard  of  Dr. 
Brookes'  marvellous  power  of  quoting  the 
Scriptures,  and  he  determined  to  test  it. 

On  a  note  book,  during  the  sermon,  he 
lotted   down    every     verse    quoted.     Utterly 

161 


162 


JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 


amazed,  the  man  went  to  Dr.  Brookes  after 
the  sermon,  and  pointed  out  that  he  had  quoted 
verb,  et  lit.,  almost  a  hundred  separate  Bible 
texts;  glvHig  not  only  the  words,  but  the  chap- 
ter and  verse. 

From  his  earliest  youth  Dr.  Brookes  was 
a  Bible  student. 

As  a  child  he  had  been  expected  to  learn 
and  quote  much  Scripture;  and  his  mother  was 
scrupulously  careful  that  the  quotation  was 
faultlessly  exact.  She  held  that  to  misquote 
in  the  slightest  degree  was  something  almost 
a  sin.  It  was  God's  Word,  she  said,  and  must 
be  studied,  and  repeated  exactly,  or  not  at  all. 

(Alas,  how  would  her  soul  be  torn  if  she 
heard  some  of  the  wretched  misquoting  of  the 
Scriptures — where  any  is  quoted  at  all — in 
many  pulpits,  even  Presbyterian  pulpits,  to- 
day! A  sermon  was  heard  by  the  writer  in  a 
St.  Louis  Presbyterian  church,  in  1897,  ^^ 
which  the  Savior  was  "quoted"  as  saying  cer- 
tain words  which  no  man,  even  with  a  magni- 
fying glass,  can  find  in  any  portion  of  the  New 
Testament.) 

The  influence  of  that  training  was  marked 
throughout  Dr.  Brookes'  career.  The  Bible 
was  his  vade  mecum.  He  pored  over  it.  He, 
so  to  speak,  absorbed  it.      He  knew  it,  and  he 


THK   BIBLE    SCHOIvAR.  163 

knew  everything  worth  knowing  that  had 
been  written  about  it. 

He  kept  himseh"  thoroughly  posted,  too, 
as  to  the  work  of  the  destructive  German  crit- 
ics (and  their  servile  American  ''Men  Fri- 
days") whose  hope  of  recognition  and  worldly 
success,  in  the  former  country — and  to  a  grow- 
ing extent  in  our  own — lies  in  their  power  to 
win  notoriety,  and  gather  about  them  a  follow- 
ing. 

There  have  been  certain  deluded  men 
who  have  ignorantly  implied  that  Dr.  Brookes 
knew  litde  but  the  English  Bible. 

It  would  not  be  charitable,  though  doubt- 
less true,  to  say  that  he  could  have  taught 
them  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin.  But  it  is 
only  a  simple  fact  to  state  that  he  was  an  ex- 
pert scholar  in  ancient  languages.  While  in 
German  and  French  he  laid  no  claims  to  a 
profound  study,  as  in  ihe  ancient  tongues,  yet 
he  could  easily  read  both  those  languages.  He 
studied  the  German  theological  professors' 
•'sensation"-seeking  utterances  in  the  original, 
something  which  (let  it  be  said  under  the  rose) 
it  is  to  be  doubted  if  many  of  their  subservient 
followers  in  American  seminaries  can  do,  with 
all  their  Fm-holier-than-thou  air  of  philologic 
eruditeness. 


164  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

This  acknowledged  champion  of  the  Plain 
People's  English  Bible  knew  all  that  they  did 
concerning  the  Bible  in  the  original,  and  a 
great  deal  more,  in  numerous  Instances.  Hav- 
ing delved  deeply  into  the  roots  of  words,  and 
the  textual  study  of  men  and  times,  he  was 
fully  equipped  to  battle  with  the  destructive 
Biblical  critics  in  their  own  camp.  He  saw 
through  the  pretensions  of  many  alleged  great 
textual  scholars,  and  despised  their  lofty  and 
exclusive  assumption  of  sacred  learning. 

His  editorial  utterances  concerning  some 
of  them  necessarily  imply  a  deep  and  sincere 
feeling  that  they  were  untrue  to  their  trust, 
and  capable  of  doing  great  harm  to  the  souls 
of  simpler  men  and  women,  in  whose  eyes  they 
seemed  to  be  throwing  dust  by  baseless  as- 
sumptions. 

On  blank  pages  of  his  Bibles,  and 
on  the  margins  of  the  printed  pages,  in 
small,  perfect  penmanship,  he  wrote  down  with 
the  utmost  care  the  rich  results  of  his  life-long 
labors.  Only  a  photograph  can  adequately 
describe  those  marvellous  "notes,"  and  only 
the  multitudes  who  "heard  him  gladly,"  and 
the  greater  multitudes  who  have  read  his  books 
in  many  languages,  know   the  value  of  them. 

To  make  himself  certain  as  to  the    use  of 


•      Selieeei>s  protpeH  leuoiid^Jeaa:         2   fcOKIKTU.   V.       '  Mnu^lnj  of  the  Apoalla.  ^       ■ 


/J,"a  ■'  /  /  "  "-"  according 

3ti  ■„,JO^s,,J  It    Ucve.andt 


Belieeei's  protveHleyiMdeaa:         2   CO  KIN 

■ 'i  ■' 10  Always  bcaiing"  about  in  the  body 

'    Ihc  dying  of  tho  Lord  Jesua  that  the  life' 

'^   abo  of  Jcsua  might  be  made  mauifest  in 

H.iltit  M^(j(..-,k,/3r,i     jj  y^^  ^^  which  live  arc'  alwny  dcU- 

^    '     vcrcd  unto  death  for  Jcpus'  sake,  that  Ihc 

>''""'' life  also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest 

'     '-^    in  our  mortal  flesh. 

»-''        12  So  then  death/  worlieth  in  uj,  but 
i*    ,   life  in  you. 

f .-.  J       13  ^g  having  the  same  spiint'  of  faith, 
„    as   it   ia  written,   1'    bcliered, 
therefore  hare  I  efiokon ;  we  also  be- 
lieve, and  therefore  6pcak ; 
//o/^iV^/-/ja,-v^     14  Knowing'  that  he  which  raised  up 
.Q^i/>,^^<,:it .  pa£^  (he  Lord  Jcpus,  shall  raise  up  us  also  by 
JcsuB,  and  Fhall  present  iu  with  you. 
;    15  For  all  thmga"  are  for  your  sakes, 
that  the  abundant  grace*  might,  through 
the  thanksgiving  of  many,  redound  to  the 
pr;  f  ,r  .-d  i,^  ^     gloryofOod. 

■  ^.  Iti  For  whiih  csu^e  we'  faint  not;  but 
i  though  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the 
s»inward»  man  is  renewed  day  by  day. 

17  For  OUT'  bgfat  offliction,  which  is 
but  for  a  moment,  workclh  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory; 

18  While  we  look  not  at  the  tilings  which 
are  seen,  but  at  the  things  i\luch  arc  not 

"''seen:'  lor  the  things  wluch  arc  eccn  are 
temporal ;    but  the  things  whi<  h  are  not 
;  seen  are  eternal 
-p  CHAPTER  V. 

•^  /  -,    J  y      ,,  J-*  OR  we  know,  that  if  our  cartlily  house 

If  ;(»l)i.^l.d  ,l»ikJ£of    i^^   tabcmjclc'    were    dissolved,    wc 
»  »!../  4-frhave  a  building  of  God,  an   house •    not 
•  •''(•'"'J'madc  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 
iflff'i'c   /»«*_y  •  •   2  For  in  this  wo   groan,*  earnestly  dC' 
;1if    oj»  »*•*>,  o  'J  siring  toiie  clothed 
..  r(..y>.^.  f  f      which  is  froi 

""  !  that  bejnif'cT 

j^,  ly.,,,  r  I .  ■  ..  ,  .  4  For  »e  that  are  in  thu  tabernacle 
fJiittsli'-uJ*'''  fr^Kroau^  being  burdened:  not  for  that  wc 
eJTi-r  if-i:  rl/:,  would  be  unclothed  but  clothed  upon, 
(1, /'ir' r^i '*»t'<  *•-  that  mortality^  mi^ht  be  awaUowed  up 
Jl/Ki/,T /•<■/'./»'.•,-.. -of  life. /»,■/•■»  I'  /^  t  '-  ^I'.j 
li^,.  -I  '%  -./  TL  .-•  /•  .'i  Now  he  fliat  hath  wrought*  us  for 
t,?  6^' «'!'.'    "'"'  Vf»"™e  thing  w  God,  who  aUo  h^th 


.r..,^»:. 


heaven  f-^,';2'A-"'f/.-:>;rf/.-,t^?^.' 

K3,  ...if  ^.^■■■■_f.     3  If  80  bo  that  bein?  clofta  we  ahall    ./„"»• 
•if'"*.''...'"'""  >-^    not  be  found  naked. 'J7...£y 


-,  ,  ■  .  given  unto  us  the  earnest'  of  the  Snirit.  r<oi. 
yfj'ir'itrr  g  Therefore  toe  oTT  always  confident, 
ictielit  knowing  that,  whilst  we  arc  at  homo  in 
\}t  V  •  '''■  Wm.,     tlic  body,  we  are  absent  from  the  Lord  : 


^hs»i>'-p  '\  It  ut'jt  rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  I0 
■iif.yi-.  1  ■  I'l,  i. v-4.be  present  with  the  Lord.  H-  (..,  •  :i,  .,  <,7, . 
y/tare  ytuhihrus,  9  Wherefore  we  ilnbour,  that,  whether 
*"*"'**  .  .  may  be  accepted  of 


,1.    %  b-J., 


present  or  absent,  ■ 

in  For  wc'  must  all  appear  before  the 
It  scat  of  Christ;  that  every  one 
fejvc^  the  things  done  in  his  body, 

jrding  to  that  he  liath  done,  whether 

e  good  or  bad.  Se 


il  be  good  or  bad.  Se  n  ,„  .  ^iio  '»>>;  '  '_^ 
W  Knowing  therefore"  the  terror" "^f 
'"'«  "tu  .  the  Lord,  we  persuade  men;  but  wo*  are 
:•■!  '3 — />'  made  manifest  unto  God;  and  1  trust  aUo 
4'^'-  y(* »!,*.<  are  made  manifest  m  your  consciences. 
•  idjc'*  »*.          12  For    wc*    commend 


am  unto  you,  but  give  you  occasim 


iiu-   behalf,    th^ 


which  gjo; 


ga_to-[-#i 


13  For  whether  we  be  beside"  ourselves 
'  i*  to  God :   OT  whether  we  be  sober,  it 
r  for  vour  cause..'?'    -'  /.:  (->  ■'  1  U 
"•II  for  the  love  of  Clmsl*  coostrainelli 


/ch.p.13.1 


Col.  l.'za'.  ' 
1  CoJ.21,22 


•  clwp.  9. 1 
»  Ro.3.24, 


0».  3.  ». 
1  Pe  Z.22,M 


M  Co.  4.1. 
/cli.ll.23,i 
for,  in  ton 


l\  Co. IS  63 

"'^fi!  10.' 

•  Ep.  1.  14. 
»  cluip.  4.  !. 
'  1  Co.  2.  4. 

•  Ep.6.11,*c 
■  Bo.8.24,2^ 
■•.lolin?.l2,4J 


r  De.  7.  2,  3. 
1  Co.  7.  3». 


lCo.3.13,17 

8.  ig. 
Ep.2.21,I2 


.H,o/.eJ,//> 


sir!/  0/  the  Aposllet 
us ;  becatise  wc  thus  judge,  that  if  1 
died  for  all,  then'  were  all  dead:  ^Uj  .  .<  1  i.uj!t  rSe  nl  e>>ei  . 

15  And  iliat  he  died  for  all,  that  thcy'ai'tj.^j. /^w  i,,c 
which  bre  should  not  henceforth  hvo  ^,„^^  (,„,„,  -,/[' 
unto  themselves,  but  unto  him  whicl^  died  ■  .  \,',„r 
for  them,  and  rose  again.  ^^ ''o  te"j-.''   •  i  ■' ■  di  •ii.dnd.  atjje 

16  Wherefore  henceforth  know  .we   oo'^' ^i^J  'loi  """■ 
man  after  the  flesh:    ye^  though  we  have-*.*  ^Jp^'s  irG**'f^ttt 
known    Christ   after    the    flesh,   yet   now'J' 2' t'.  "  nrrr     ' 
henceforth  know  we  him  no  more*^  '^^  "'■'"  t*-e"C-ircstSi-  Hi. 

17  Therefore  if  any  man  be  in  Clirht,-^^^  "'-''■''" '■""^  ■ 

passed  away;   behold,'  all  things  are  be- s'''«-» -'-•■»  '!«V^^. 
come  new.>".v>  }'■■.-. r      ,,  ,  ?;,t  ;  ,, :  r^.'-^<!«"".ii^'»'"*t 

18  And  all  things  are  of  God,  who  hath    "u  «"rc->-e  Ji'4 
reconciled'  us  to  himself  by  J&ius  (ilhrist,** 
and  hath  given  to  us  the  minister  of  re-i- 
conciliation  ;  i:l/l_*w  of  »  eci^-c.  t »  j  r  ^j,  j^r  j*^ /,,,,  j /.^ *  t /* 

19  To  wit.  That  God  was  in  Christ,  re-  llr<.  e,  j.«,-  "■«  . 
conciling  the  world  unto  himselli  not  im-  \^fj2^  tfreeni= 

Co  16'68  puting  their  trcsijasses^  imto  them;  and  cll.' »  hn^^*li^^e/' 
iu__  -Wlr-rcommitted  unto  us  tho  word  of  re-  '■/ w,  &•_••••  , 
^     l(»uciUation.  3 . .  / c  ■...-.'  j  .  J.  ,  r  S-,^  r„r  "'^  ? '- o 

20  Now  then  wo  are  amba'^sadors '  ior-^-'in.'jj/.itM'oJtf*  ' 
Christ,  as  though   God   did   twseech  yauof'Aj'ht'fttitT^i: 
by  us:    we  pray  vok  in  Christ's  st«Bd,  be*f"'  ^"~ 
ye  reconciled  to  God-b"'*""* /"'»"' ^**f'*v'">  ' 

21  For  he'  hath  m»de  him  io  is  sin  iarOI't af  m_tvi 
us,  who  knew  no  sin;   that  we  mi^ht  be.f"<  .w^  be^Zt*t^ 
made'  the  righteousness  of  God  in  hnn.  ri'a/iirnir,,,,,  ,„}4'iii 
„j  CHAFTER  Ml.  "■ 

We   then,  at   workers'   together  m(hCo-i 


,i.-rin 


■  wi/t: 


ech  you  also  tlmt  ye  receive  wA/S^^.  "?ct  '"  / 

ofGodinvain.'«vi".n7lavT„(./erx;x°>«« 

he  sailh,  I'  have  hearf  thee  mTii^tjA<inst". 


patience,  in  amictiDns,   m   necessities,  in '  ^ 
distresses; ,/'»■"■'"'"■'  ^ /■■ '^  ...— J  iT< ,/iti  c /i„}i< 
S  In  stripes,/  in  imprisonments,  fin  tu-7  .' 


?,  by  kindness,  by  the  iloly  iitiMlj^O  ^  i  he  tt-i-^  -. 
by  love  unieigned,<'J  Ivj/»', ..  ^.j,  Oi  Tjs  li',,,tju)T>iie  t,rsi 

7  By  the  word  of  truth,*  J>y  the  pc"veTt,o  A /.<;  w /« J.=  f  . 
of  God,  by  the  Armoor"  of  righteotunewfcj^,,,^  rutin,.  - 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  ,  7^,  i^,-^,J  ,  -  , ,    -* 

8  By  honour  and  dishonoai,  by  evil^,,,,,  j'l^',,..,, 
report  and  good  report:  as  deceiyer8,*»j /, .','-',  j/,  ^. ,. 
andyrftmo;  1  7li^  >/../    a'^i  i:  11  ^,.  ,  ./,,(/,,,,,./. 

9  As  unknovm,*  and' i/e'  *weU  known;//*  i-v»,'^j  .r/r..//, 
as  dying,  and  behoi'l,  we  bve :  aj  chast- 'v  p^n/,  oiGcL 
ened,' and  not  killed  ;  v  Wi  ■..*».Vy:' 

10  As    sorrowful,   yet    alway   rejoicing; v.  f-!  r,,c  ,   i  /<- 
as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich:  as  having^,,  7- 
nottiing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things.'       f- 

U-0  ye  Corinthians,  our  mouth  ijpp«^ 

12  Tc  a 
are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels. 


, ..  ^^it^     "'  ' 

heart' IS  enlarged.  . 

straitened  m  us,  1)01  y^,  ^ ' 


13  Now  for  s  recompence  in  tho  8sm«;^P''''7'"'^  1 
(I  speak  as  unto  mw  childrenj  be  ye  ako^.' •'£_"»'* /v./,  < 


npence  in 
childrenj 

Be  ye»  not  tmeqnally  yoked  togelhfr « ^- 
with    unbtlievwfl:     for    what    faJlowship'if y^ix^^. JJ^i.t' 
hath  righteousness  with  iinright^ousneBs?-,^,,  ^   ,,  -^  *  , , 
and   what    communion    h«;'a  ,bght   wit&^v"  )jViT;^M; '/' 

15  And  what  concorilKhath  Christ  witlb't:^'".,^,,^  a. /-,..• 
BcUfll  ?  or  what  part  hath  he  that  beliCT-^  ,,  1  as  m   3 
eth  with  an  infidel? jr.?/',,.  a.s  u^.b,  I ,  c^  t^  iTiVfr//. 

16  .And  wHaBTgreemenl  hath  the  t«n-,^ ,,-  ,,,  ,,■>  ' 

pie  of  God  with  idoU?  for  ye'  are  the"-'""'-'^^'   / 

Fe/ievrrs  I,,  //i,Jiil^,.,e,.f  Vlc,-K,>^,.^.^  10.  ' ,  ,,-      ,.■ 


Fac-simile  of  a  Page  of  Dr.  Brookes'  Bible  Notes- 


THK   BIBI.K   SCHOLAR.  165 

any  one  word,  he  thought  nothing  of  reading 
the  entire  Bible  through  for  that  particular  pur- 
pose. If  the  word  appeared  three  times  that 
fact  he  established  for  himself.  He  believed  in 
being  his  own  concordance.  (It  should  be  added 
here,  that  he  was  urged  scores  of  times  to 
write  a  concordance.) 

It  was  often  his  custom  to  read  the  Bible 
through  three  or  four  times  during  a  summer 
vacation. 

When  he  wished  to  fortify  himself  as  to 
any  doctrine  from  the  Bible,  he,  of  course, 
read  the  Bible  through  with  such  especial  end 
in  view.  The  passages  were  carefully  marked. 
When  he  reached  the  end  of  Revelations, 
every  text  bearing  on  the  topic  was  at  his 
tongue's  end.  He  had  gone  to  the  court  of 
last  resort,  and  all  was  settled. 

The  results  of  that  tremendous  labor 
would  then  be  written  down,  briefly  and  beau- 
tifully, in  a  portion  of  his  Bible. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  constantly  urging  men 
to  study  first  the  Bible  itself,  and  then  the 
books  about  the  Bible. 

He  believed  too  many  preachers,  young 
and  old,  held  the  books  "about  the  Bible"  to 
be  far  too  important. 

Yet    he  was  a  great  bookman,    and   his 


166  JAMKS    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

library  was  a  ''thing  of  beauty."  The  four 
walls  of  his  large  study  were  crowded  with 
theological  lore,  and  to  the  day  of  his  last  ill- 
ness he  kept  close  watch  on  new  works,  and 
secured  all  the  worthy  ones. 

THE    NIAGARA    CONFERENCE. 

In  natural  connection  with  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  championing  of  pre- 
millennial  views,  came  Dr.  Brookes'  promi- 
nence in  the  Niagara    Conference    movement. 

This  gathering  began  in  a  small  informal 
meeting  of  evangelists  who  had  planned  to 
spend  their  summer  outing  in  the  same  place. 
They  wished  to  meet  with  Dr.  Brookes  when 
he  was  at  leisure,  and  take  counsel  with  him. 
Soon  after, others  asked  for  the  same  privilege. 
The  success  of  that  gathering  was  remarkable 
from  the  first.  Meetings  were  held  at  differ- 
ent resorts.  Finally,  Niagara-on-the-Lake 
was  chosen  as  the  permanent  rallying  point. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  president  of  the  associ- 
ation which  of  necessity  grew  out  of  the  infor- 
mal gathering  of  a  few  kindred  spirits.  Special 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  friends  who  met  there  togeth- 
er, and  a  suitable  pavilion  was  erected  by  the 
local  hotel  company  on  a  hill  overlooking 
Lake  Ontario.     Here  representative  minis'ters, 


THE    BIBLK   SCHOLAR.  167 

evangelists,  professors  and  learned  laymen 
met  and  discussed  Biblical  themes. 

As  Dr.  Brookes  often  said  and  printed: 
"Men*s  views  are  not  wanted;  we  are  here  to 
study  God's  Word." 

Those  who  attended  held  in  common  the 
pre-millennial  belief;  and  the  discussion  of  the 
many  phases  of  ''That  Blessed  Hope"  was 
always  a  leading  feature  of  the  summer's  ses- 
sion. Yet  there  was  no  hard  and  fast  rule, 
and  all  hearers  were  gladly  w^elcomed.  De- 
nominational barriers  were  leveled.  Men  and 
women  of  every  creed  met  on  one  common 
ground — that  of  love  for  the  searching  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Many  warm  friendships  were  made  at  this 
charming  spot.  Among  those  near  and  dear 
to  Dr.  Brookes  in  this  conference  work  were 
Dr.  William  G.  Mooreheadof  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Xenia,  Ohio;  Dr.  H.  M.  Par- 
sons, of  Toronto;  Dr.  W.  J.  Erdman,  Dr. 
C.  I.  Scofield,  J.  M.  Stifler,  Robert  U.  Garrett, 
Major  Whittle,  G.  C.  Needham,  and  many 
others. 

Special  memorial  services  were  held  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1897,  in  honor  of  the  dead 
leader.  Friends  present  wrote  that  it  was  an 
occasion  not  to  be  forgotten. 


168  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR, 

BIBLE    WORK    AT    SUMMER    SCHOOLS. 

With  his  work  at  Niagara  Conference,  his 
many  books,  addresses  and  published  articles 
on  the  Bible,  there  is  naturally  recalled  the 
work  in  the  Moody  Summer  School  at  North- 
field,  and  similar  labor  in  the  west,  at  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  at  Lake 
Geneva,  Wis.,  in  Kansas,  and  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Moody  and  Dr.  Brookes  renewed 
their  acquaintanceship  a  short  time  before  Dr. 
Brookes'  death.  The  last  time  Dr.  Brookes 
appeared  in  a  public  assemblage  other  than 
his  own  church,  was  at  an  afternoon  Moody 
meeting  in  St.  Louis.  He  led  in  prayer. 
Those  who  heard  that  prayer  say  they  never 
heard  anything  like  it.  Mr.  Moody  referred 
to  it  touchingly  in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  the 
stricken  family  after  Dr.  Brookes*  translation. 

At  Northfield,  at  Geneva,  or  wherever  he 
was,  he  was  always  a  lion  among  the  young 
men. 

He  was  so  manly,  so  vigorous,  such  a 
**hard-hitter"  at  men  and  things  he  held  to  be 
wrong;  so  gifted,  so  finished,  so  positive  of 
what  he  said  concerning  the  Bible,  that  he  took 
them  by  storm. 

To  say  that  he  delighted  them  would  be 
hardly  expressing  it  strongly  enough.     He  re- 


The  B181.E  SCHOLAR.  16^ 

celved  ovation  after  ovation.  There  was  even 
an  effort  made  once  to  haul  him  about  in  a 
carriage  by  young  men  power. 

His  influence  on  college  youth  met  in 
those  summer  schools,  cannot  be  estimated. 
A  leading  College  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  official  once  told  a  member  of  the 
family  that  to  Dr.  Brookes'  Bible  readings 
during  a  certain  summer,  he  laid  the  cause  of 
a  great  revival  of  religious  interest  in  a  num- 
ber of  the  largest  colleges  of  the  land  during 
the  following  fall.  His  own  quickening,  too, 
for  greater  service,  the  officer  laid  to  the  same 
influence.  This  young  man  now  has  a  world- 
wide influence  in  the  College  Association  work. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  especially  happy  in  con- 
ducting the  ''question  box"  at  such  gatherings. 
His  marvellous  memory  then  showed  forth  in 
all  its  might.  With  never  a  look  at  the  Bible 
he  would  answer  questions  as  fast  as  they  could 
be  read;  quoting  one,  two,  three  or  five  verses 
to  ''clinch"  each  answer. 

His  manly  defense  of  the  Inerrant  Bible, 
and  the  multitudinous  reasons  he  gave  ''for 
the  faith  that  was  in  him,"  powerfully  influ- 
enced the  young  men.  He  "straightened  out" 
hundreds  of  picked  young  men  who  had  gone 
astray  under  the  enervating  influences  of  pro- 


170  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

fessors  and  ministers  whose  knees  were  weak, 
and  whose  minds  were  foggy  on  the  question 
of  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 

It  is  Impossible  to  do  more  than  hint  at  all 
Dr.  Brookes  did  as  a  Bible  student;  and  as 
preacher,  teacher  and  author,  who  made  the 
Bible  his  summa  sum^narum. 

His  whole  life  must  be  viewed  from  the 
stand-point  of  Bible  study,  to  obtain  anything 
like  an  adequate  conception  of  Dr.  Brookes. 


The  Author, 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  AUTHOR. 

R.  Brookes  was  urged  into  authorship. 
It  was  in  1864  that  his  first  work,  ''How 
TO  BE  SAVED,"  appeared. 

The  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
launchino-  of  that  modest  little  craft  on  the  sea 
of  literature,  makes  interesting  reading  to-day. 

Miss  Susan  McBeth,  a  noted  missionary 
among  the  Indians  and  soldiers,  who  was 
laboring  among  the  regular  army  men  (**my 
boys"  she  called  them,)  at  Jefferson  Barracks, 
near  St.  Louis,  went  one  day  to  Dr.  Brookes 
with  a  request: 

"I  came  here  to-day  as  an  inquirer.  I 
am  constantly  asked  puzzling  questions  by  the 
soldiers  concerning  the  way  of  salvation.  I 
am  troubled,  often,  to  know  how  to  make  my 
answers  clear  and  plain  enough.  Now  I 
have  come  to  you  to  repeat  the  questions  put 
to  me,  and  to  listen  to  your  answers." 

J73 


174  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

Dr.  Brookes  willingly  granted  her  request. 
When  she  had  run  the  gamut  of  the  queries, 
and  had  heard  the  clear,  unhackneyed,  unpro- 
fessional—  so  to  speak — answers,  she  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  bring  ''some  of  her  boys"  to 
hear  him  go  over  those  questions  and  answers 
again. 

He  agreed  to  do  as  she  wished;  and  in  a 
few  days  the  study  was  filled  with  young- 
soldiers,  accompanied  by  Miss  McBeth  and  J. 
W.  Mclntire,  a  St.  Louis  publisher  of  that 
day.  The  lady  had  brought  him  along  with 
an  "ulterior  motive"  which  did  her  credit. 

At  the  close  of  the  informal  gathering 
Mr.  Mclntire  said  that  he  wanted  the  speaker 
to  write  out  what  he  had  said,  and  he  would 
make  of  it  a  book.  Dr.  Brookes  demurred, 
but  finally,  after  argument,  the  publisher  secur- 
ed an  affirmative  answer. 

Soon  after,  "How  to  be  Saved,"  "by  J. 
H.  B."  appeared.  It  was  a  marvellous  success 
from  every  standpoint,  including  the  publish- 
er's. Edition  after  edition  was  sold.  It  was 
translated  into  German,  Portugese,  French 
and  Spanish.  It  was  widely  circulated  among 
the  soldiers  of  both  armies  during  our  late 
war.  The  good  it  did  cannot  be  reckoned  up 
in  this  world. 


THE   AUTHOR.  175 

In  the  preface  of  this,  the  first  of  his  long 
list  of  published  works,  the  author  showed  the 
clear,  practical  thinking  and  lucid  writing 
which  marked  all  his  books. 

Selections  from  it  are  here  quoted;  for 
this  book  marked  an  epoch  in  Dr.  Brookes' 
career.  Heretofore  the  pulpit  had  been  his 
sole  field  of  labor.  But  from  now  on  he  was 
continually  forced  to  write,  and  the  world  has 
been  enriched  thereby. 

*'My  friends,"  he  wrote,  "I  have  some 
things  to  say  to  you  richly  worthy  of  your  at- 
tention, and  full  of  interest  and  happiness  to 
you,  if  cordially  received. 

"By  the  help  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  I  pro- 
pose to  address  you  on  the  all-important  sub- 
ject of  religion,  and  to  tell  you  how  you  may 
be  saved.  I  propose  to  address  you  in  plain 
and  simple  language;  for  I  have  learned  from 
my  own  experience  that,  notwithstanding  the 
instruction  we  may  have  received  in  the  family 
and  in  the  sanctuary,  concerning  the  great 
truths  of  the  Bible,  when  we  come  to  feel  a 
personal  interest  in  those  truths  we  need  some 
one  to  expound  unto  us  'the  way  of  God  more 
perfectly.' 

"We  may  be  convinced  that  in  some  man- 
ner  we  are  to  be    saved  by  the  Lord  Jesus 


176  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:    A   MEMOIR. 

Christ,  if  saved  at  all,  and  that  we  are  requir- 
ed to  believe  on  Him;  but  what  it  is  to  believe 
on  Him,  and  why  we  must  believe  on  Him, 
and  when  we  must  believe  on  Him,  are  ques- 
tions about  which  we  may  be  entirely  ignor- 
ant." 

A  little  later  is  a  bit  of  striking  reminis- 
cence of  his  own  youth: 

•'I  felt  that  I  would  be  willing  to  seek 
Jesus  if  He  were  only  on  the  earth,  as  He  was 
1800  years  ago;  but  I  read  in  my  Bible  that 
He  *is  passed  into  the  heavens,'  and  I  was 
constrained  to  cry  out  like  Job,  'Oh,  that  I 
knew  where  I  might  find  Him  !  that  I  might 
come  even  unto  His  seat!  I  would  order  my 
cause  before  Him,  and  fill  my  mouth  with 
arguments.'  I  felt  that  I  would  be  willing  to 
go  beyond  the  sea,  and  to  visit  the  City  of 
Jerusalem,  and  to  kneel  on  the  very  spot 
where  the  cross  was  erected,  if  it  could  be 
pointed  out;  but  I  was  satisfied  that  this  would 
not  make  me  a  Christian;  and  so  many 
months  passed  away  in  perplexity  and  distress, 
because  there  was  no  one  whom  I  met  to 
direct  me  to  the  'Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.' 

**Now,  I  want  to  avoid  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, all  figurative  language  *^*  ""'  *^*  and  to  ex- 


THE   AUTHOR.  177 

plain  the  plan  of  salvation  clearly:*  *   '^  " 

How  little  the  author  of  this  modest  pre- 
face, written,  as  he  supposed,  for  a  few  ignor- 
ant but  earnest  soldiers,  knewof  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  who  w  ere  to  read  those 
lines  ! 


**The  Way  Made  Plain,"  was  his  second 
work,  which  was  issued  in  1871.  The  manu- 
script and  copyright  were  given  outright  to  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union.  Edition 
after  edition  was  issued.  The  prefatory 
words  to  *'The  Way  Made  Plain"  are  very 
characteristic: 

"Those  who  carefully  read  the  first  thir- 
teen verses  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Romans 
cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  logical  order 
and  marvellous  clearness  with  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  there  sets  forth  the  Way  of  Life.  It  is 
the  aim  of  this  little  book  to  follow  that  order, 
and  in  some  feeble  measure  to  reflect  that 
clearness.  Hence  the  Scriptures  are  closely 
followed  at  every  step  of  the  argument,  be- 
cause they  alone  can  guide  our  feet  in  the  path 
of  prayer. 

''Frequently  has  the  author,  when  dealing 
with  inquiring  souls,  undertaken  a  simple  ex- 
position   of  this    instructive   and    interesting 


178  JAMKvS   H.    BROOKES:      A    MRMOIR. 

passage  and  often  has  the  Lord  been  pleased 
to  own  it  in  imparting  light  to  the  darkened 
understanding  and  comfort  to  the  troubled 
heart  of  the  anxious  sinner.  To  His  blessing 
and  favor  it  is  now  commended,  with  the  ear- 
nest prayer  that,  as  sent  forth  by  the  Ameri- 
can Sunday- School  Union,  it  may  be  more 
greatly  owned  in  his  service." 

HIS    VOLUMINOUS    WRITINGS. 

From  this  time  on,  almost  to  the  close  of 
his  life,  Dr.  Brookes  continued  to  reach  a 
great  audience  by  means  of  the  printed  page. 
It  requires  care  to  guard  against  the  omission 
of  any  of  his  works,  so  numerous  were  they, 
and  little  more  can  be  done  here  than  to  name 
them  all. 

"The  Blble  Under  Fire  Series,"  con- 
sisted of  "Fifty  Reasons  FOR  Believing  the 
Bible";  "Historical  Evidences  as  to  the 
Truth  of  the  Bible  "  ;  "The  Bible  Iner- 
rant  "  ;  "It  is  the  Word  of  God  "  ;  "Christ 
AND  the  Bible  Stand  or  Fall  Together." 

"Chaff  and  Wheat;  a  Defense  of  Ver- 
bal Inspiration." 

"Coming  and  Appearing  of  our  Lord." 

"May  Christians  Dance  ?" 

"Outlines  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible." 

"Stumbling  Blocks  Removed,"  a  "book 


THK   AUTHOR.  179 

designed  to  meet  the  doubts  and  perplexities 
frequently  found  to  exist  in  the  minds  of 
honest  inquirers  after  the  Truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus." 

"From  Death  unto  Life,  or  The  Sinner 
Saved." 

''The  Holy  Spirit.". 

''Did  Jesus  Rise  ?  " 

Among  the  later  and  larger  books  were 
these: 

"Israel  and  the  Church." 

Concerning  this  book  the  editor  of  the 
Episcopal  Recorder  wrote:  "Dr.  Brookes  has 
conferred  many  benefits  upon  the  church  by 
his  writings,  and  he  has  in  this  book  done 
good  service  by  emphasizing  the  Biblical  dis- 
tinction between  the  Jews,  as  the  peculiar  peo- 
ple of  God  in  their  national  capacity,  and  the 
Church  consisting  of  the  whole  body  of  be- 
lievers united  with  Christ  by  a  living  faith." 

"Is^^the  Bible  True?" 

Of  ^this  a  well-known  Western  minister 
said:  "I  can  only  say  that  I  know  of  no  more 
forcible  and  convincing  work  of  its  size,  in  vin- 
dication of  the  Word  of  God  and  the  divinity 
of  the  character  and  work  of  the  Son  of 
Man." 

Especially   noted  was  his   "Maranatha; 


180  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

OR  THE  Lord  Cometh,"  a  work  of  554  pages. 
Among  books  of  the  pre-millennlalists  it  stands 
facile  princeps.  Edition  after  edition  has  been 
demanded  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  late  Henry  Morehouse,  the  noted 
English  evangelist,  said  of  it  publicly:  "In 
no  book  outside  the  New  Testament  have  I 
seen  this  truth  more  sweetly  or  clearly  shown 
forth  than  in  Maranatha,  by  Dr.  Brookes." 

''Till  He  Come."  This  book  is  held  by 
many  pre-millennialists  to  be  one  of  the  strong- 
est, as  well  as  simplest,  representations  of  the 
Scriptures  on  the  Second  Coming  of  the  Lord 
obtainable.  It  was  designed  especially  for  the 
inquirer  and  the  doubter. 

"Mystery  of  Suffering."  Its  publish- 
er has  stated:  "No  record  has  been  kept 
of  the  letters  and  messages  received  from  the 
suffering  children  of  God  who  have  been  com- 
forted and  strengthened  by  this  little  book. 
One  lady  who  has  spent  years  upon  a  bed  of 
pain,  writes  that  next  to  her  Bible  she  prizes 
it  above  all  the  books  she  has  ever  read,  and 
commends  it  most  earnestly  to  sick  and  sor- 
rowing souls." 

Having  been  sorely  and  peculiarly  afflict- 
ed himself.  Dr.  Brookes  knew  how  to  comfort 
others  compelled  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  sorrow. 


THE   AUTHOR.  181 

A  later  book,  and  one  of  especial  promi- 
nence, was  **The  Christ;  A  Study  of  His 
Person,  Works  and  Claims."  It  is  interest- 
ing to  glance  at  a  few  from' the  many  words  of 
praise  which  representative  editors  lavished 
upon  this  book. 

''The  Spirit  of  the  Master,"  says  one, 
* 'breathes  on  every  page." 

Other  expressions  are:  "It  is  an  impres- 
sive representation  of  a  great  theme." 
"Worthy  of  warm  commendation."  "Sure  to 
do  good  work  in  presenting  the  unanswerable 
proofs  of  the  Divine  Redeemer  of  a  lost 
world." 

"Well  named,  for  the  Christ  and  nothing 
but  the  Christ  is  its  theme  from  cover  to  cover. 
The  earnest  Christian  Bible  student  and  min- 
ister alike  will  appreciate  it." 

"We  rejoice  that  so  clear  a  statement 
has  been  put  forth  in  a  form  so  popular,  and 
hope  it  may  be  blessed  to  many  in  helping 
them  to  apprehend  the  person  and  work  of 
our  Lord." 

"If  it  be  true,  as  has  been  charged,  that 
modern  sermons  have  too  little  of  Christ  in 
them,  then  this  book  ought  to  be  in  the  hands, 
and  its  truths  and  sentiments  in  the  heart  and 
head,  of  every  preacher  of  the  age.     It  is  a 


182  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:      A    MEMOIR. 

Christ-full  book.     The  first  chapter  is  worth 
the  price  of  the  whole." 

THE    LAST    BOOKS. 

Three  books  appeared  within  the  past 
three  years.  Of  these,  Dr.  Brookes  wrote: 
''These  three  books  contain  the  last  testimony 
which  the  author  wishes  to  leave  to  the 
thoughtful  considerations  of  those  who  believe 
in  the  Word  of  God." 

These  books  were:  "God  Spake  all 
THESE  Words;"  a  defense  of  the  Inerrant 
Bible. 

"He  is  not  Here."  (Written  to  establish 
the  literal  and  physical  resurrection  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  prove  that  the 
denial  of  the  fact  so  essential  to  Christianity 
is  a  denial  of  every  fundamental  truth  of  the 
Gospel.  Such  denial,  whether  made  by 
Strauss,  Renan,  Ingersoll,  or  a  certain  class  of 
Higher  Critics,  is  sheer  infidelity." — />• 
Brookes, ) 

The  third  was  a  revised  and  enlarged 
fifth  edition  of  ''Till  He  Come,"  renamed  "I 
am  Coming."  This  work  was  published  in 
Glasgow,  Scotland. 

Concerning  "God  Spake,"  the  Neiv  York 
Observer  s2\dL\  "The  Rev.  J.  H.  Brookes,  D. 
D.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  is  a  devout  student  of 


THK   AUTHOR.  183 

God's  Word  and  has  published  a  number  of 
volumes  helpful  to  the  true  understanding  of 
its  truths.  '"'■  '"'  This  book  tears  a  good  many 
high-flown  criticisms  of  the  Bible  to  tatters. 
It  is  definite  and  clear  in  its  statements,  terse 
and  straightforward  in  style,  and  simple  and 
convincing  throughout." 

The  Herald  and  Presbyter ^  of  Cincinnati,  saw 
fit  to  say  of  it:  "The  name  of  the  author  is  a 
sufficient  guarantee  of  its  worth.  No  man  is 
more  able  and  constant  in  the  defense  of  the 
truth.  The  book  deserves  a  wide  circulation, 
especially  among  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
church,  who  have  not  time  nor  facility  for 
critical  study.  It  is  a  simple,  clear  and  ringing 
defense  of  the  Scriptures." 

Literally  hundreds  of  other  such  critiques 
of  Dr.  Brookes'  works  might  be  quoted.  But 
it  is  needless.  Those  who  read  his  books — 
and  they  are  numbered  by  tens  of  thousands  — 
long  ago  made  up  their  minds  that  his  deep 
thoughts,  expressed  in  pellucid,  straightfor- 
ward English,  made  them  volumes  to  be 
eagerly  sought  and  kept  at  hand. 


Dr.  Brookes  was  a  poor  financier  in  liter- 
ary matters.  The  money  made  on  his  books 
went  into  other  pockets  than  his.     The  copy- 


184  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

rights  of  some  he  freely  gave  away.  He  wrote 
to  do  others,  not  himself,  good.  Had  he 
troubled  himself  overmuch  about  profits  and 
royalties,  he  might  not  have  been  able  to  write 
as  he  did.      His  eye  was  single. 

It  v^^ould  take  a  whole  page  to  write  down 
simply  the  titles  of  his  hundreds  of  published 
and  tremendously  circulated  tracts. 

One  man,  W.  W.  Waters,  706  Penn 
avenue,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  always  keeps  large 
editions  of  140  different  tracts  of  Dr.  Brookes' 
constantly  in  stock  for  sale  or  free  distribution. 
The  plates  of  others  have  been  lost  through  a 
change  of  publishers. 

At  a  low  estimate,  he  has  written  from 
250  to  300  complete  tracts,  averaging  six 
pages. 

His  tracts  are  as  different  from  the  ordi- 
nary dreary  tract,  as  his  sermons  were  from 
the  ordinary  sermon.  That  is  high  but  just 
praise. 


The  Editor. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE   EDITOR. 

FToR  '1 WENTY-THREE  years  Dr.  Brookes  edit- 
r^      ed  a  monthly  magazine,  The  Truth. 

He  issued  it  because  there  was  a  de- 
mand for  such  a  means  of  reaching  his  ever- 
widening  circle  of  listeners;  some  far  overseas. 

There  was  (to  use  a  colloquialism)  "no 
money  in  it"  for  him.  In  twenty-three  years 
of  editing  he  never  collected  twenty-three 
cents  in  salary.  He  was  actually  out  of  pocket 
for  manuscript  paper  and  postage  used.  He 
gave  his  services  to  the  journal  gladly. 

The  steps  which  led  up  to  the  founding  of 
the  magazine,  in  1874,  are  fully  set  forth  in  the 
salutatory.  This  "Introduction"  shows  the 
intense  and  far-seeing  convictions  Dr.  Brookes 
had,  at  that  early  day,  against  those  who  were 
then  beginning  the  assault  on  the  inerrancy  of 
the   Scriptures. 

The  assailants  of  the  Bible  were  compar- 
atively modest  in  these  days,  but  he  anticipa- 

187 


188  JAME.S    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

ted  what  was  coming,  and  prepared  to  buckle 
on  his  armor. 

Alas !  what  a  true  prophet  he  was. 
Several  years  before  Dr.  Brookes'  death, 
Union  Seminary,  founded  on  the  money  of 
those  who  honored  the  whole  Bible  as  the 
Word  of  God,  was  led  off  to  dishonor  by  a 
Brig-gs;  previous  to  his  translation  Dr.  Brookes 
heard  Presbyterian  weaklings  squeak  their 
little  second-hand  tirades  against  Moses  and 
Isaiah;  he  was  not  spared  the  knowledge  of  an 
Abbott  who  shook  his  cap  of  motley  and 
chimed  his  jester's  bells  as  he  "preached" 
(save  the  mark  !  )  in  a  Brooklyn  pulpit — or 
should  it  not  be  called  a  Brooklyn  circus? 

And  Dr.  Brookes  lived  to  read — occasion- 
ally, from  curiosity — a  New  York  periodical, 
an  alleged  Presbyterian  journal,  as  it  frothed 
at  the  mouth  in  its  impotent  rage  against  good 
men  and  true  who  believed  that  those  who 
gave  the  lie  daily  to  the  Standards  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  to  which  they  had  sub- 
scribed, had  no  right  to  be  teaching  in,  and 
drawing  fat  salaries  from,  Presbyterian  Theo- 
logical seminaries. 

This  ''Introduction"  also  explains  and 
justifies  his  straight-from-the-shoulder  style  of 
editing,  shown  through  the  twenty-three  years 


THK   EDITOR.  189 

of  journalistic  labors.  To  quote  from  The 
Truth,  Vol.  I,  No.  i: 

"After  much  anxious  reflection  and  ear- 
nest prayer,  it  has  been  determined  by  a  few 
Christian  friends  to  publish  a  paper  under  the 
title  here  announced.  The  name  has  not 
been  selected  as  indicating  an  arrogant  as- 
sumption of  special  acquaintance  with  the 
truth,  but  simply  as  expressive  of  our  aim  in 
seeking  to  set  forth  the  manifold  glories  of 
Him  who  alone  could  say,  'I  am  the  way, 
THE  TRUTH,  and  the  life.'— John  xiv.  6. 

•'Alas  !  too  well  do  we  know  that  the 
rays  of  divine  light  coming  from  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  never  reach  the  human  mind 
without  more  or  less  refraction  from  their  di- 
rect course  by  passing  through  the  dense 
medium  of  'the  flesh';  and  the  humiliating  dis- 
coveries of  our  own  ignorance,  that  are  daily 
made  in  the  study  of  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
exclude  all  boasting  in  the  attempt  to  teach 
others  even  'the  first  principles  of  the  oracles 
of  God.'     Heb.  v.  12. 

"Not  a  step,  therefore,  can  we  take,  ex- 
cept in  the  entire  dependence  upon  One  of 
whom  our  Lord  said  to  His  disciples,  'When 
He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come,  He  will 
guide  you  into  all  truth:  for  He  shall  not  speak 


190  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

of  Himself;  but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  that 
shall  He  speak:  and  He  will  show  you  thing-s 
to  come.  He  shall  glorify  me:  for  He  shall 
receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you.' 
John  xvi.  13,  14. 

''But  just  because  of  this  dependence  upon 
the  Holy  Ghost,  we  cannot  shrink  from  the 
work  to  which  we  have  been  summoned  in  the 
face  of  our  own  desire,  whatever  our  sense  of 
personal  unfitness  for  the  task.  It  is  a  sure 
sign  of  being  occupied  about  self,  Vv-hen  we  de- 
cline a  service  forced  upon  us,  as  this  has 
been,  as  the  plea  of  inability.  Blessed  be 
God,  He  does  not  call  us  to  serve  Him  upon 
the  ground  of  our  strength,  but  of  His  suffi- 
cient prace;  and  unless  w^e  are  filled  with 
thoughts  of  ourselves,  or  with  distrust  of  His 
promised  aid,  we  need  not  refuse  to  stand  in  a 
place  of  testimony  or  at  a  post  of  duty,  how- 
ever arduous  the  labor  it  may  require,  or  how- 
ever serious  the  responsibility  it  may  involve. 

Hence  we  go  forth  unaffected  by  the 
hope  of  success,  unmoved  by  the  fear  of 
failure,  to  join  other  witnesses  of  Jesus  wlio 
are  using  the  press  to  make  known  The 
Truth.  If  He  is  pleased  to  own  the  paper 
He  will  raise  up  friends  to  carry  it  forward  lo 
the  accomplishment  of  its  mission;  if  He  does 


THE   EDITOR.  191 

not  need  it,  gladly  will  we  retire  into  silence. 
Many,  no  doubt,  will  regard  it  as  rash  to  ven- 
ture upon  a  new  periodical  at  present,  when  it 
is  well  known  that  a  number  of  the  journals 
already  established  throughout  the  church  at 
large  are  struggling  for  bare  existence,  and 
when  the  financial  condition  of  the  country  is 
so  disturbed  that  there  is  a  general  complaint 
of  poverty,  mingled  with  a  general  apprehen- 
sion of  still  greater  reverses.  None,  however, 
who  are  informed,  will  deny  that  publications 
of  an  infidel  and  grossly  immoral  character 
are  increasing  to  an  appalling  extent;  and  the 
call  is  urgent  upon  all  who  love  our  Lord  to 
resist  promptly  and  resolutely  these  agents  of 
Satan,  and  to  stand,  having  their  'loins  girt 
about  with  truth,'  taking  in  their  hand  'the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of 
God.'     Eph.  vi.  17. 

"Never  before,  perhaps,  were  the  servants 
of  the  evil  one  more  busy  and  zealous  in  dis= 
seminating  positive  error,  and,  what  is  equally 
or  even  more  dangerous,  perverted  truth.  It 
would  be  painful  enough  if  these  efforts  were 
confined  to  the  avowed  enemies  of  Christ;  but 
we  are  shocked  by  the  indubitable  proofs, 
constantly  furnished,  that  infidelity  is  not  only  toler- 
ated, but  cherished  and  opeiily  advocated  by  those  zvho 


192  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

are  followed  as  burning    and   shining    lights    of  the 
Church. 

"A  recent  number  of  a  paper  conducted 
by  'the  most  popular  preacher  in  America/ 
obtaining  by  the  fame  of  his  name  an  immense 
circulation,  and  wielding  by  the  force  of  his 
genius  a  potent  influence  over  tens  of  thous- 
ands, speaking  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  does 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  'if  anything  in  them 
does  not  approve  itself  to  the  reason  and 
moral  sense  as  true,  it  is  to  be  rejected/  The 
boldest  skeptic  can  not  say  anything  more  than 
this,  and  the  most  determined  skeptic,  who  re- 
tains a  decent  respect  for  the  opinions  of  Chris- 
tians, can  not  say  anything  worse  than  this. 
Sentime7its  no  less  impious  are  heard  with  ijicreasing 
frequency  from  pulpits  that  have  been  regarded  as 
evangelical^  itt  derogation  of  the  supreme  authority  of 
God's  Word,  doubt  of  Christ's  true  and  proper 
divinity,  or  in  contempt  of  His  atoning  death 
and  imputed  righteousness  as  the  sole  ground 
upon  which  we  can  be  saved.  Even  where 
such  sentiments  are  not  openly  proclaimed  we 
may  easily  learn  by  a  little  inquiry  that  they 
are  held  by  multitudes  in  the  church,  whose 
faith  has  yielded  to  the  claims  of  shallow 
humanitarianism,  and  fled  at  the  first  approach 
of  'Science,  falsely  so-called'.     Tim.   vi.  20. 

"It  is  not  the  time,  therefore,  for  a  trum- 


THE  EDITOR. 


193 


pet  lifted  for  The  Truth  to  give  an  uncertain 
sound.  And  it  is  proper  to  inform  our  readers 
that  we  shall  maintain,  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  ability  God  may  impart,  the  plenary 
and  verbal  inspiration  of  the  sacred  Scriptures; 
the  divine  dignity  of  the  person  of  his  eternal 
Son;  the  utter  ruin  and  death  in  sin  of  the 
whole  human  race,  as  born  into  the  world; 
our  indispensable  need  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
produce  the  new  birth,  to  impart  faith,  to 
dwell  in  the  believer,  to  unite  him  to  our  risen 
Lord  in  the  heavenly  places;  and  a  full,  free, 
present  salvation,  founded,  not  upon  our  works 
and  feelings  to  any  degree,  but  entirely  upon 
the  finished  work  of  Christ,  who  'by  Himself 
purged  our  sins.'      Heb.  i.  3. 

*'We  shall  also  strive  to  comfort  doubting 
and  desponding  Christians  by  leading  them 
into  the  assurance  of  their  acceptance,  not 
through  the  fancied  discovery  of  some  good- 
ness in  themselves,  but  through  belief  of  God's 
testimony;  urging  them  to  a  higher  practical 
holiness  by  walking  in  the  light  of  unclouded 
fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  with  His  Son, 
and  by  'looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the 
glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our 
Savior  Jesus  Christ,'  Titus  ii,  13. 

•'As  it  is    our  aim  to  encourage  diligent 


194  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

and  devout  study  of  the  Word  of  Life,  brief 
and  plain  expositions  of  Scripture  will  be  giv- 
en, with  special  reference  to  the  elucidation  of 
passages  commonly  regarded  as  obscure  in 
meaning,  or  difficult  of  comprehension.  When 
to  this  is  added  that  the  little  ones  will  not  be 
forgotten;  that  inquirers  will  be  entreated  to 
believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  without  a 
moment's  delay,  or  preparation  of  any  kind, 
and  that  unbelievers  will  be  reminded  of  One 
who  is  willing  to  save  instantly  and  completely, 
and  able  to  send  them  'away  Into  everlasting 
punishment,'  Matt.  xxv.  46,  our  purposes  will 
be  readily  understood." 

HIS    ASSOCIATES. 

Edward  Bredell,  deceased,  then  an  active 
Presbyterian  layman,  was  the  proprietor. 
Their  office  was  at  212  North  5th  street. 
There  a  complete  stock  of  Dr.  Brookes'  and 
similar  books,  Bibles  and  tracts  were  kept- 
Later,  the  periodical  was  removed  to  Chicago, 
when  it  was  issued  for  a  time  by  the  Gospel 
Publishing  Co.  Finally,  it  was  secured  by 
Fleming  H.  Revell,  who  issued  it  up  to  the 
number  following  Dr.  Brookes'  death. 

It  was  then  sold  by  Mr.  Revell  to  the 
'•Watchword,''  the  magazine  the  late  Dr. 
Gordon,  of  Boston,  founded.     1  he  twin  pub- 


THE   EDITOR.  195 

lication  has  since  appeared  under  the  title  of 
''The  Watchword  And  Truth.''  owned  and  edited 
by  Robert  Cameron, 

On  almost  every  line  of  The  Truth  Dr. 
Brookes'  striking  personality  was  in  evidence. 
He  wrote  the  larger  part  of  each  number, 
though  he  had  valued  contributing  editors: 
W.  J.  Erdman,  D.  D.,  Prof.  W.  G.  Moorhead, 
H.  M.  Parsons,  D.  D.,  Rev.  C.  I.  Schofield 
and  Rev.  G.  C.  Needham. 

A  number  of  pungent  editorial  para- 
graphs, in  which  he  smote  and  spared  not  was 
a  feature  of  each  issue.  Whea  stirred  up  to 
righteous  indignation  by  what  seemed  to  be 
an  assault  on  the  Bible,  he  would  pen  lines  of 
rebuke  that  glowed. 

But  in  the  very  same  issue  there  would, 
almost  always,  appear  some  tender  piece  of 
writing  from  the  same  pen,  full  of  comfort  to 
many  bruised  hearts.  He  was  a  many-sided 
editor,  as  he  was  a  man. 

DR.  BROOKES  AND  HIS  CRITICS. 

Those  brediren  who  criticised  Dr.  Brookes' 
editorial  utterances  as  being  too  sharp,  and 
who  occasionally  remonstrated  with  him  pri- 
vately, were  sometimes  told  by  Dr.  Brookes 
the  following  homely  old  tale: 

''There  was  once  a   mild-mannered    old 


196  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:       A    MEMOIR. 

farmer,  who  saw  some  boys  in  his  favorite 
apple  tree,  stealing  fruit,"  Dr.  Brookes 
would  say.  "He  ran  out  and  sought  to  rea- 
son with  them,  and  politely  invited  them  to 
dismount.      They  laughed  at  him. 

''The  old  man  then  got  a  trifle  vexed  and 
began  to  throw  grass,  in  handfuls,  at  the  de- 
predators. 

''But  they  did  not  mind  grass,  and  still 
laughed  at  him. 

"Then  he  began  throwing  soft  clods. 

"But  that  didn't  'phase'  them. 

"Then  patience  ceased  to  be  a  virtue — 
and  stones  began  to  fly. 

"In  a  moment  the  boys  were  down  and 
making  tracks  for  the  pike." 

Dr.  Brookes  would  then  add  that  he  was 
sick  and  tired  of  seeing  the  defenders  of  the 
inspired  Bible  using  soft  words  and  feebly 
tossing  grass  at  the  semi-infldel  seminary  pro- 
fessors and  writers  who,  with  their  silly  flock 
of  human  sheep,  were  striving  to  vie  with  the 
beer  soaked  agnostics  who  labeled  themselves 
"  Theologians"  in  German  University  towns; 
and  whose  only  hope  of  preferment  is  to  stir 
up  a  sensation  by  going  a  little  farther  towards 
atheism  than  the  next  "Professor  of  Divinity." 

Dr.  Brookes  asserted  that  such  men  were 


THE   EDITOR.  197 

ruining  souls.  Towards  such  he  felt  it  his 
Christian  duty  to  hurl  stones — not  soft  clods. 
And  he  hurled  them  straight,  and  with  all  the 
force  of  his  strong  right  arm. 

His  critics  were  also  reminded  as  to  what 
the  magazine  stood  for  and  always  had  fought 
for:  clear-cut  conservatism.  If  they  did  not 
like  it,  they  did  not  have  to  buy.  He  did  not 
force  it  on  any  one.  There  were  plenty  who 
did  want  it. 

He  never  could  see  the  justice  of  allow- 
ing the  ultra  liberal  press  to  have  full  sway  in 
its  attacks  on  orthodoxy  and  ridicule  for  the 
orthodox;  and  then  to  see  certain  of  the  ortho- 
dox themselves  holding  up  their  hands  in  holy 
horror,  because  ^ihe  Truth  lunged  back  at  the 
scoffers  with  an  equally  sharp  sword. 

Evidently  the  magazine  suited  his  wide 
following;  and  certainly  its  fearless  editor 
never  changed  his  ways  because  of  criticism, 
mild  or  sharp,  both  of  which,  like  the  poor, 
**were  always  with  him." 

Many  of  the  pages  of  ^^he  Truth  were  de- 
voted to  the  propagation  and  defense  of  the 
cause  of  pre-millennialism.  Profound  articles 
and  series  of  articles  were  prepared  by  the 
editor  on  that  theme  so  dear  to  him. 

It  was,  in  a  sense,  too,   the   ''organ"  of 


198  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:     A   MEMOIR. 

the  Niagara  Conference.  One  number,  each 
year,  was  devoted  to  a  complete  report  of  the 
addresses  and  papers  of  that  gathering. 

A  large  number  of  the  yearly  issues  were 
also  bound,  and  are,  to-day,  cherished  parts  of 
many  libraries  in  the  land. 

THE  truth's  wide  FIELD. 

The  field  of  the  magazine  was  a  wide 
one — the  world.  Though  no  "circulation 
swearer"  was  ever  employed — no  commercial 
advertising  being  printed — there  was  a  goodly 
list  of  readers.  Everywhere  Dr.  Brookes 
went,  in  the  United  States  or  England,  he  in- 
variably met  people  who  said:  'T  know  you 
well  through  The  Truth.  \  have  taken  it  from 
Vol.  I.,  No.  I." 

A  study  of  the  circulation  list  showed  a 
unique  clientele  of  every  denomination,  and 
of  every  clime.  Many  of  the  "United  Breth- 
ren" (that  is,  more  or  less  "United"  )  read  it; 
many  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Reformed 
Episcopalians.  The  Roman  Catholic  Arch- 
bishop, Dr.  Ryan,  formerly  of  St.  Louis,  and 
Dr.  Brookes  were  good  friends.  They  often 
spent  hours  together  in  the  editor's  study. 
He  greatly  admired  Dr.  Brookes'  editorials 
and  other  writings,  and  even  circulated  some 
of  the  books  among  his  people. 


THE   EDITOR.  199 

(When  on  one  occasion,  certain  Catholics 
tried  to  keep  Dr.  Brookes  from  the  bedside  of 
a  dying  man — a  nominal  Romanist,  who  had 
learned  to  know  and  love  Dr.  Brookes,  and 
had  sent  an  urgent  request  for  his  presence 
when  he  wished  to  make  his  peace  with  God — 
the  Archbishop  rebuked  them,  and  the  dying 
man's  wish  was  granted.) 


There  was  no  one  to  carry  on  The  Truth 
as  a  distinct  publication  after  its  founder  was 
taken.  It  was  a  part  of  his  personality.  With- 
out him,  it  would  have  been  nothing. 


Side- Lights. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SIDE   LIGHTS. 

HOSE  WHO  knew  Dr.  Brookes  only  in  the 
pulpit,  knew  him  as  an  eloquent  preach- 
er, who  stirred  men's  souls  as  few  of  the 
world's  divines  have  ever  done. 

They  knew  him  as  a  valiant  defender  of 
the  Inerrant  Bible,  who  hurled  thunderbolts  at 
the  destructive  Higher  Criticism  of  the  cen- 
tury's end. 

And  they  recognized  him  as  a  leader  in 
Old  World  circles  as  well  as  New,  in  the  pre- 
millennial  school  of  thought. 

But  unfortunately,  such  did  not  know  the 
man,  and  often  seriously  misjudged  him.  Few 
men  have  been  more  misjudged.  Many  sup- 
posed him  to  be  always  engaged  in  thundering 
at  some  one. 

Yet,  in  fact,  he  was  as  tender-hearted  as 
a  woman.     As  a  parent  he  was  indulgent  to  a 


204  JAMKS   a.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

fault.  To  the  wife  of  his  youth  he  was  an 
outspoken  lover  throughout  the  span  of  his 
life.  Those  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  see 
Dr.  Brookes  in  his  home  life,  can  never  forget 
it,  and  will  always  be  the  better  for  it.  In 
weal  and  woe,  in  sickness  and  in  health,  he  was 
the  same  patient,  gentle,  always  affectionate 
husband  and  father.  No  thoughtless  words 
that  hurt  were  spoken.  In  "little  things"  he 
was  always  careful.  This  is  the  testimony  of 
the  writer  who  lived  in  that  home.  It  is  the 
testimony  of  scores  of  others. 

His  treatment  of  his  servants  was  that  of 
a  model  master.  He  never  forgot  that  they 
had  hearts  and  souls. 

One  prominent  St.  Louisan  testified  in  a 
letter,  at  the  time  of  the  good  man's  transla- 
tion, that  through  Dr.  Brookes'  ''practicing 
what  he  preached"  in  his  treatment  of  his 
servants,  he  had  been  led  to  believe  in  and  ac- 
cept Christianity.  An  ex-servant  of  Dr. 
Brookes'  had  borne  testimony  of  the  life  in  his 
home  to  this  man, 


Reference  is  made  elsewhere  to  his  rare 
sense  of  humor.  His  stock  of  comical  tales, 
gleaned  from  actual  experience,  was  remarka- 
ble.    And  these  were  not  kept  for  other  rare 


SIDE-LIGHTS.  205 

spirits  en  route  to  Synod,  or  as  a  relief  after 
the  serious  work  of  the  day  at  Northfield 
Summer  School,  or  the  Niagara-on-the-Beach 
Conference.  He  was  at  his  best  in  his  home 
circle.  He  was  a  born  mimic.  Perhaps  he 
excelled  when  recounting  negro  tales  in  the 
dialect. 

Probably  no  pastor  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  ''understood"  so  well  the  negroes. 
He  had  been  brought  up  among  them.  When 
he  began  to  walk,  in  his  Tennessee  home,  a 
little  dusky  toddler  was  at  his  side.  His  first 
sermon  was  preached  to  the  colored  people  at 
Oxford,  Ohio,  while  a  college  student.  And 
such  was  his  work  for  that  race  throughout 
his  long,  laborious  St  Louis  pastorate,  that 
after  his  death  a  special  memorial  service  was 
held  by  the  colored  Presbyterians,  and  heart- 
felt testimony  as  to  his  labors  in  their  behalf 
was  borne. 

A    LOVER    OF    CHILDREN. 

Dr.  Brookes  was  the  friend  of  every 
child.  Babies  seemed  to  turn  to  him  naturally 
for  protection  and  amusement.  A  photograph 
reproduced  in  this  volume  shows  him  sur- 
rounded by  a  bevy  of  little  ones,  during  a 
summer's  outing  at  North  Manitou  Island, 
Lake  Michigan. 


206  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

It  was  always  so.  His  grandchildren  idol- 
ized him.  He  had  almost  resented  the 
''growing  up"  of  his  daughters,  for  he  was  al- 
ways their  best  play-fellow.  The  sight  of  the 
learned  Dr.  Brookes  down  on  his  hands  and 
knees,  ''playing  bear,"  was  the  edifying  pic- 
ture often  presented  to  distinguished  callers  at 
the  pastoral  residence. 

And  rare  pranks  were  sometimes  played 
on  him  by  his  children.  One  of  these,  of 
which  his  youngest  daughter  was  the  perpe- 
trator, deserves  to  be  recorded,  such  was  its 
originality  and  daring. 

One  day,  while  the  Doctor  was  asleep  on 
a  lounge,  the  little  girl  daintily  braided  his 
beard  into  a  number  of  separate  pieces,  each 
one  gaily  decked  out  with  a  piece  of  narrow 
but  strong  blue  ribbon.  She  gazed  with  deep 
satisfaction  upon  her  handiwork,  and  departed. 

A  noted  Southern  editor,  it  so  happened, 
was  passing  through  St.  Louis  the  very  day, 
and  called  at  that  moment  to  pay  his  respects 
to  Dr.  Brookes. 

The  Doctor  awoke  at  the  sound  of  the 
door-bell,  and  greeted  his  guest,  all  uncon- 
scious of  the  dazed  look  of  wonder  in  tne  face 
of  the  visitor,  whose  eyes  seemed  fascinated 
by  the  beard.     The  Doctor  did  not  happen  to 


SIDK-LIGHTS.  207 

Stroke  that  portion  of  his  face,  and  so  did  not 
discover  the  cause  of  his  guest's  pre-occupied 
air — not  to  speak  of  incoherent  words. 

Only  when  after  the  guest,  still  in  a  sort 
of  a  trance,  had  departed,  did  Dr.  Brookes 
discover  the  true  state  of  things.  He  always 
suspected  that  the  man,  who  had  not  seen  him 
before,  supposed  him  to  be  an  habitual  beard- 
curler. 

In  his  younger  days  he  was  accused  of 
caring  too  much  for  his  personal  appearance 
in  the  pulpit,  and  of  being  too  particular  about 
the  cut  and  set  of  his  coat.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  these  innuendoes  were  made  by 
strangers.  The  carelessness  he  always  show- 
ed concerning  proper  clerical  habiliments  was 
often  a  cause  of  distress  to  his  young  wife.  If 
he  looked  ** well-groomed"  in  the  pulpit  it  was 
because  she  had  kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  him, 
and  for  no  wish  of  his  own. 

THE  RED-WHEELED  BUGGY. 

The  young  wife  was  often  surprised  and 
amused  too,  at  the  frequency  with  which  Dr. 
Brookes  ^^^-^  ^^ot  taken  for  a  minister.  Here  is 
one  instance  during  the  early  life  in  St.  Louis: 
They  often  drove  out  together,  and  she  noticed 
with  considerable  wonderment  how  her  hus- 
band always  took  from  the  livery  stable  a  cer- 


208  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

tain  fast,  rakish-looking  horse,  attached  to  a 
buggy  with  bright  red  wheels.  She  thought 
it  anything  but  suitable  (for  in  those  days,  she 
said,  to  drive  in  a  buggy  with  red  wheels  was 
a  sign  of  depravity.)  Yet,  rather  than  hurt 
her  husband's  feelings,  she  submitted  resigned- 
ly to  the  carmine  hue  and  the   fast  ''trotter." 

But  finally,  she  felt  for  his  sake  she 
must  enter  a  protest.  The  complaint  was 
passed  on  by  the  minister  to  the  liveryman. 
A  light  broke  on  the  latter,  who  hastened  to 
explain: 

"Why,  are  you  Dr.  Brookes,  the  preacher? 

I  thought  you  were  that  gambler,  Capt. . 

That  is  a  dangerous  horse,  and  might  have 
killed  you.  I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  rid- 
dance if  he  did  run  off  again  and  did  kill  , 

so  I  let  you  have  it." 

Thereafter  a  fat  and  sleepy  old  horse 
sedately  jogged  along  before  the  sombre- 
hued  vehicle  in  which  sat  the  young  minister 
and  his  fair  wife;  and  sometimes,  it  must  be 
confessed,  the  pastor  had  to  smother  a  sigh  as 
he  thought  of  that  other,  tabooed  steed — for 
Dr.  Brookes  loved  to  drive  a  spirited  horse. 

SOME  STORIES  HE  TOLD. 

Some  of  the  bon-mots  of  this  prince  of  re- 
counters  should  be  kept  for  the  lovers  of  real 


SIDK-LIGHTS. 


209 


humor,  through  the   ''art  preservative,"   and 
therefore  are  here  reproduced. 

One  summer,  during  the  Pre-millennial 
Conference  at  Richfield  Springs,  N.  Y.,  be- 
fore the  day  of  the  Niagara  gathering— a 
Presbyterian  minister  of  a  New  York  town 
was  studying  the  tenets  of  pre-millennialism. 
He  lay  awake  one  night  in  a  room  opposite 
two  occupied  by  Dr.  Brookes  and  a  well- 
known  evangelist. 

It  so  happened  the  day  before  that  Dr. 
Brookes  had  expected  to  receive  copies  of  the 
current  issue  of  his  magazine,  The  Truth.  But 
they  had  been  delayed.  Suddenly,  about 
midnight,  he  was  awakened  by  the  minister 
across  the  way  knocking  at  his  door  and 
shouting  exultingly. 

The  light  of  pre-millennialism  had  dawned 
upon  him  in  the  silent  watch  of  the  night,  and 
he  felt  that  he  must  tell  his  mentor  of  it. 

"Oh!  Dr.  Brookes,  it's  come;  it's  come. 
I've  got  it;   I've  got  it,"  he  cried. 

Dr.  Brookes  arose  and,  but  half  awake, 
said: 

"What  have  you  got  ?  " 

"The  truth." 

Dr.  Brookes,  still  half  asleep,  supposed 
his  friend  referred  to  the  delayed  periodical, 
and  asked,  wonderingly: 


210  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

"How  did  it  come,  by  mail  or  express  ?  " 
The  evangelist  in  the  next  room  had  been 
awakened,  and  was  in  a  convulsion  of  laughter. 
Meanwhile  the  poor  convert   stood  with- 
out in  open-mouthed  astonishment. 


HIS    FIRST    SERMON. 

He  loved  to  tell  of  his  experiences  with 
negro  preachers  and  congregations.  The 
work  he  did  among  the  colored  congregation 
of  Oxford,  Ohio,  is  memorabilia  of  interest. 
While  a  college  student  there,  he  accosted  a 
colored  man^^one  day,  and  desired  to  know  if 
his  people  had  any  means  of  worship  ? 

"  'Deed  we  hasn't,  boss,"  was  the  re- 
sponse. 

'Tf  I  offer  to  preach  to  you  will  you 
gather  your  friends  to  hear  me?"  then  asked 
young  Brookes;  adding,  doubtless,  that  he  was 
from  the  South. 

''  'Deed  ah  will,"  was  the  delighted  ans- 
wer. 

The  young  student  then  obtained  per- 
mission to  use  a  school  house  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town  for  his  service.  The  color- 
ed friend,  meanwhile,  had  been  putting  in  a 
good  part  of  his  time  telling  about  the  young 
Southerner  who  was  going  to  preach  to  *'us 
niggers.'* 


SIDE-LIGHTS. 


211 


On  the  appointed   Sunday    evening  Mr. 

Brookes  found  the  room  packed.     His  hearers 

had  gathered  from   miles  around.     After  the 

singing  cf   old-time   hymns  a  simple   Gospel 

sermon  was  preached.      In   the   midst  of  the 

sermon  some    of    the    old-time  ''bredren   an' 

sisters"    began     to    ''get    h  ippy"— ''shoutin' 

happv." 

Their  mood,  which  was  at  once  recognized 

by  the  young  Tennesseean,  was  just  beginning 
to  be  contagious  when  the  young  preacher 
leaped  to  his  feet  and  commanded  them  to 
''stop  their  nonsense  and  behave  themselves." 
They  quieted  down — for  he  knew  how  to 
manage  them— and  the  meeting  soon  dispers- 
ed in  an  orderly  manner. 

The  next  morning,  seated  by  an  open 
window  in  his  college  room,  Mr.  Brookes  over- 
heard two  ancient  ''aunties"  of  very  dusky 
hue  talking  over  the  meeting  of  the  night 
before. 

''Didn't  we  jes'  have  a  gran'  time,  sis- 
ter?" said  one. 

"  'Deed  we  did.  But  what  ah'm  a-study- 
in'  'bout  is,  why  didn't  the  young  marser  let 
us  niggers  holler  ?     Tell  me  ?" 

"Sho'  honey,"  her  friend  replied,  to  the 
listener's  intense  amusement,  "dat's  jes'  his 
ign'ance.     He's  so  young." 


212  JAlVrES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

Years  after  Dr.  Brookes  had  another  ex- 
perience among  colored  friends  which  amused 
him  greatly.  He  was  visiting  at  the  planta- 
tion of  a  friend  in  Louisiana.  As  was  his 
custom.,  he  inquired  concerning  the  colored 
churches  thereabout.  Learning  of  one  not  far 
away,  he  visited  it  on  a  Sunday.  He  was  in- 
troduced by  the  planter  to  the  worthy  but 
rather  pompous  pastor,  who  immediately 
changed  his  plans  for  the  day  and  besought 
Dr.  Brookes  to  preach  for  him.  The  invita- 
tion was  accepted. 

But  when  the  time  came  for  the  sermon 
the  visitor  could  hardly  restrain  his  laughter 
and  proceed.  For  in  these  words  the  colored 
minister  made  him  known  to  the  admiring 
flock: 

'*Ah  interduce  de  Rev'ren'  Dr.  Brookes 
of  St.  Louie,  who  is  a  gvvine  to  preach  ter- 
day. 

''Dey  sholy  grows  great  men  en  ole 
Missury.  Brudder  Brookes  is  from  Missury 
— ah'm  from  Missury." 

THE    WEDDING  HE  BROKE  OFF  AT  THE    LAST 
MINUTE. 

Dr.  Brookes'  house,  in  the  early  days, 
when  he  lived  in  what  is  now  the  heart  of  the 
business    district,    was    a    Mecca    for   young 


SlDli-I.IGHTS.  213 

couples  who  wished  a  quiet  marriage.  His 
experiences  were  sometimes  very  amusing. 
He  used  to  tell  of  one  marriage  which  he  broke 
off ''for  cause,"  five  minutes  before  the  time 
set  for  it;  and  when  the  bride  and  groom  were 
in  his  parlor. 

The  groom  was  a  beardless  boy  of  weak 
countenance;  the  bride-elect  a  grim-visaged 
lady  of  uncertain  years  and  beady  eyes.  Dr. 
Brookes  grasped  the  situation;  it  was  a  leap 
year  affair  he  saw  at  a  glance,  and  might  en- 
tail life-long  sorrow  for  the  boy. 

''Come  here  a  minute,"  said  Dr.  Brookes 
to  the  youth. 

They  adjourned  to  the  hall. 

"Look  here,  boy,"  said  Dr.  Brookes,  "do 
you  know  what  you're  doing?"  The  boy 
grinned  feebly  and  said  he   "  'lowed  he  did." 

"Do  you  really  want  to  marry  that  woman, 
who  is  almost  old  enough  to  be  your  mother, 
and  as  ugly  as  sin  ?  " 

"I  don't  much  care  one  way  or  'nother; 
but  she's  sot  on  marryin'  me." 

"Don't  you  know  that  if  I  marry  you  to 
her  you  will  have  to  swear  to  love  her  and 
support  her  till  death  ?"  the  doctor  thundered. 

The  youth  turned  pale,  wavered,  and  said 
"he  hadn't  thought  of  that." 


214  JAMES    H.    BROOKEvS:    A    MEMOIR. 

**Boy,  you  should  get  out  of  this  match,  or 
you'll  be  sorry.  Speak  quick.  Shall  I  tell 
her  you  will  not  marry  her  ?  " 

''Yes/ please  do,  boss,"  answered  the  now 
terrified  groom-elect. 

And  the  marriage  was  * 'declared  off"  at 
once. 


''Captain  Greatheart. 


5? 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
-CA.PTAIN  GREATHEART." 

HOW  DR.  BROOKES  CURtD  A  WIFE-BEATER. 

©NCE  A  weak,  trembling  woman  came  to 
him  and  said  that  she  was  in  mortal 
terror  of  her  husband,  a  river  pilot. 
(This  was  in  the  ''palmy  days"  of  steamboating 
on  western  rivers).  She  said  he  was  kind  to 
her  generally;  but  at  the  end  of  his  trip  he 
always  got  drunk,  and  then  he  would  beat  her 
until  he  was  tired. 

He  had  given  her  one  beating  too  many, 
and  the  ''worm  had  turned."  But  before 
seeking  a  lawyer  to  draw  up  a  petition  for 
divorce  on  grounds  of  cruelty,  she  decided — 
as  hundreds  of  other  St.  Louisans  did  when 
in  dire  distress — to  consult  with  Dr.    Brookes. 

After  she  had  told  him  her  sad  story,  he 
said: 

"Where  is  your  husband's  boat  now  ?  " 

"He  will  be  at  Cairo  on  his  way  up,  day 
after  to-morrow,"  she  replied. 

217 


218  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

*'A11  right;  you  have  a  letter  there  to 
meet  him.  Don't  do  anything  more  until  I 
see  you  again. 

''Tell  him  Dr.  Brookes  says  that  before  he 
beats  his  wife  again  he  wants  to  be  informed 
as  to  the  time.  He  has  never  seen  a  man 
beat  a  woman.  It  will  be  a  new  experience. 
Tell  him  that  Dr.  Brookes  intends  to  be  pres- 
ent the  next  time  the  beating  takes  place." 

A  few  days  later  a  shamefaced  man 
called  at  the  pastoral  residence  and  meekly 
requested  to  see  Dr.  Brookes. 

'T  got  the  letter,  Doctor,  and  I  have  come 
to  tell  you  that  I  will  never  beat  my  wife 
again."     The  pilot  was  kindly  met. 

"You  see,  Doctor,"  he  said,  'T  never 
would  beat  her  if  I  wasn't  drunk,  and  I'm 
going  to  quit  drinking.  I  never  felt  so  mean 
in  my  life  as  when  I  read  that  letter." 

A  long,  serious  talk  followed.  Soon  after, 
that  pilot  was  a  sincere  convert  of  Dr.  Brookes'. 
The  Bible  was  never  out  of  his  pilot-house; 
and  he  sought  to  master  its  contents  as  he  had 
the  channels  of  the  Mississippi.  Within  the 
past  three  years  a  Mississippi  pilot  bore  tes- 
timony to  Dr.  Brookes  as  to  the  sincerity  of 
this  quondam  wife-beater  and  drunkard's  con- 
version.    He  told  Dr.  Brookes  that  the   man 


CAPTAIN   GRKATHEART.  219 

never  drank  again,  gave  up  swearing,  and  was 
known  and  respected  as  a  sincere  Christian 
all  along  the  river. 

His  widow,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Washington  and  Compton  Avenue  Church, 
bequeathed  the  bulk  of  her  estate — having  no 
children — to  the  church,  at  her  death,  a  short 
time  ago.  That  was  her  expression  of  grati- 
tude to  Dr.  Brookes. 

WAR-TIME    MEMORIES. 

During  the  troublous  times  in  St.  Louis 
in  the  early  6o's — referred  to  in  another 
chapter — there  were  many  amusing  recollec- 
tions for  Dr.  Brookes,  paradoxical  as  it  may 
seem  in  view  of  some  of  the  very  trying  ex- 
periences he  had. 

An  honored  officer  in  the  Washington 
and  Compton  Avenue  Church  to-day  was 
then  a  young  Major  at  the  front,  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Second  Church  under  Dr.  Brookes'  pastorate. 
A  certain  fellow  member  of  the  church,  now 
deceased,  was  an  ardent  Northern  man.  He 
advocated  a  trial  before  the  session    of   Mr. 

,  because   of  his   connection    with  the 

Southern  army. 

One  of  the  session,  who  possessed  a  fund 


220  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

of  common  sense  only  equalled  by  his  dry 
humor,  gravely  remarked: 

''All  right;  we  will  try  him  before  the 
session.  But  he  must  be  'personally  served' 
with  a  notice.  I  move  that  our  friend  who 
suggests  the  trial  be  appointed  to  serve  the 
notice  on  the  young  officer,  by  passing 
through  the  Rebel  lines." 

Pictures  of  flying  shell  and  shot  flashed 
before  the  said  complainant.  He  turned  ashy 
pale,  and  the  "churching"  stopped  then  and 
there,  as  when  a  rapid  bullet  strikes  an  oak. 


Another  story  he  told  was  of  a  Presby- 
terian minister  who  at  the  opening  of  the  war 
lived  in  St.  Louis.  This  gentleman  was  a 
strong  Northern  man.  One  day  an  alarming 
rumor  came  of  the  approach  of  a  certain  much- 
feared  Southern  officer  with  his  band  of 
roughs.  This  pastor  took  quick  leave  astride 
of  an  old  white  mule. 

"The  last  view  of  him,"  Dr.  Brookes  used 
to  say,  "was  a  rear  view.  His  long  legs  al- 
most touched  the  ground.  But  he  tried  to 
spur  the  old  mule  at  every  step."  Had  the 
gentleman  waited  he  would  have  found  that 
his  panic  was  a  needless  one. 


CAPTAIN   GRKATHKART.  221 

BROOKES    VS.    BRIGGS. 

One  of  the  most  striking  events  of  the 
Briggs  case,  before  the  General  Assembly  at 
Washington,  was  an  impromptu  debate  Dr. 
Brookes  and  Prof.  Briggs  had  in  the  elevator 
of  a  Washington  hotel,  which  would  have 
made  a  good  newspaper  ''story"  at  the  time. 

By  chance  Dr.  Brookes  went  to  the  hos- 
telry which  was  later  recognized  as  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Briggs'  following.  Dr.  Brookes 
was  about  the  only  orthodox  Presbyterian  in 
the  hotel.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  two 
noted  men  would  meet.  Sure  enough,  one 
day,  they  almost  ran  into  each  other  in  the 
elevator.  There  was  a  courteous  though 
formal  exchange  of  greetings,  and  then  Prof. 
Briggs  said,  at  once: 

"Look  here,  Brookes,  why  are  you  always 
attacking  me  in  your  Truthf' 

Dr.  Brookes  gave  his  reason  boldly.  He 
felt  that  Briggs  was  assailing  the  foundations 
on  which  the  Bible  rested,  and  he  said  so. 
He  then  proceeded  to  prove  his  charge  by 
quoting  word  for  word — giving  page,  and 
number  of  lines  from  the  top  of  the  page — 
the  most  heterodox  sentences  from  Briggs' 
book.  (The  professor  then  learned  some- 
thing of  that  famous  memory.) 


222  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:       A    MEMOIR. 

There  could  be  no  reply,  so  Briggs  took 
an  ad  hominem  tack:  ''Well,"  he  replied,  ''I 
do  not  attack  you  because  of  your  pre-millen- 
nialism." 

'*Look  here,  Briggs,"  replied  the  St. 
Louisan,  "I  want  you,  and  everyone,  to  know 
that  the  minute  the  Presbyterian  Church  says 
that  pre-millennialism  is  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree a  heresy,  I  and  the  Presbyterian  Church 
at  once  part  company.  And  no  trial  will  be 
necessary,  I  assure  you." 

That  was  a  palpable  hint  and  thrust,  for- 
sooth. 

Then  the  party  left  the  elevator. 

There  certainly  was  no  doubt  about  Dr. 
Brookes'  assault  on  the  teachings — never  the 
personality — of  Briggs  and  his  satellites.  His 
Truth  editorials,  and  many  pages  of  *'God 
Spake  all  these  Words,"  flayed  them.  And 
the  sturdy  blows  long  stung,  as  the  elevator 
incident  showed.  But  there  were  no  assaults 
on  the  man  or  the  men. 

Figuratively,  Dr.  Brookes,  the  attorney 
for  Orthodoxy, had  too  good  a  "case"  for  that. 
It  is  admitted  that,  moved  to  righteous  indig- 
nation, he   smote   the  liberals  hip   and  thigh. 

Pie  did  not  waste  time    in    palaver   and 


CAPTAIN   GRKATHEART.  223 

tossing  handfuls  of  grass.     He   hurled   rocks 
where  rocks  were  needed. 

His  conscience  and  his  judgment  justified 
him,  and  man's  criticism,  therefore  availed 
nothing. 

A  LOVER  OF  NATJRE. 

All  his  life  Dr.  Brookes  loved  nature  and 
"sought  the  open,"  though  he  did  not  find 
''sermons  in  stones,"  and  ridiculed  scientists 
who  said  they  did. 

He  was  a  hunter  and  fisherman  of  marked 
prowess  when  a  young  man.  While  he  gave 
up  hunting  during  his  early  ministry,  he  al- 
ways was  a  keen  fisherman. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry  in 
St.  Louis  his  vacations  were  short  and  far 
between.  He  rarely  took  but  a  month.  And 
the  summer  when  the  cholera  plague  raged  in 
St.  Louis,  he  refused  to  leave  his  people.  He 
bore  the  "burden  and  the  heat"  of  those 
deadly  days  until  he  was  threatened  with  the 
dread  malady  himself,  and  was  not  more  than 
able  to  travel.  He  then  was  prevailed  upon 
to  save  his  useful  life  by  seeking  country 
air, 

And,  to  return  to  the  subject  of  summer 
outings,  it  was  always  his  desire  to  seek  green 
trees   and  running  brooks,  or  the  sea.     He 


224  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

detested  hotel  life,  and  fled  from  crowds.  Yet 
eager  pulpit  committes  always  managed  to  find 
him  immediately  after  his  arrival  ''for  his  sum- 
mer rest,"  however  quiet  and  secluded  the 
spot;  and  by  means  fair  or  foul  finally  argued 
him  into  preaching  here  or  there  for  them, 
despite  his  family's  protests.  It  was  that 
which  led  his  dear  ones  to  take  him,  one  sum- 
mer, to  an  almost  inapproachable  island,  where 
steamers  rarely  landed,  in  Lake  Michigan. 

During  the  summer  of  1882,  in  St.  Louis. 
Dr.  Brookes  was  overcome  by  the  heat,  while 
making  a  pastoral  round  of  visits.  He  lay 
unconscious  during  one  night.  Since  that 
summer  heat  affected  him  greatly.  He  was 
forced  to  take  longer  rests  in  order  to  escape 
the  trying  summer  weather  of  his  chosen  field 
of  life-labor.  When  he  worked  there,  after 
June  I  St,  he  was  in  constant  danger  of  another 
heat  prostration.  Yet  work  at  that  risk  he 
often  did. 

A    S\VORD-CANE    EPISODE. 

Dr.  Brookes  had  an  experience  on  his  re- 
turn from  his  bridal  tour  which  affected  his 
whole  life. 

The  young  couple  had  entered  a  crowded 
car  en  route  to  Dayton.  One  vacant  seat 
was  found — vacant  except  for  a  small  package. 


CAPTAIN  GRKATHKART.  225 

"Is  this  seat  engaged?"  asked  Dr.  Brookes 
of  the  persons  just  behind  it. 

"No,"  they  replied. 

He  laid  the  bundle  down  and  Mrs. 
Brookes  and  he  seated  themselves. 

A  moment  later  a  man  hustled  into  the 
car,  went  to  the  seat  in  question  and  said, 
angrily: 

"Didn't  you  see  that  bundle.  This  is  my 
seat.  You  are  no  gentleman  to  have  taken 
it." 

Dr.  Brookes  had  been  seated  in  a  crouch- 
ed down  attitude.  The  insulter  evidently 
thought  him  a  small  man.  Near  at  hand  was 
a  sw^ord-cane  which  had  just  been  presented 
to  Dr.  Brookes  by  an  uncle. 

In  an  instant  he  leaped  to  his  full  hei^rht. 
His  face  was  white  with  rage;  his  eyes  were 
blazing. 

"Sit  down,  you  scoundrel,"  thundered 
Dr.  Brookes  at  the  then  terrified  intruder. 

The  young  wife  laid  her  hand  on  her 
husband.  In  a  moment  he  was  calm.  (The 
intruder  had  meanwhile  slunk  out  of  the  car.) 
Dr.  Brookes  often  said  that  but  for  his 
wife's  action  he  believed  he  might  have  run 
the  insulter  through  with  his  weapon,  for  his 
temper  was   quick  and  fiery.     He  felt  deeply 


226  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

humiliated  by  his  public  display  of  rage,  and 
never  forgot  the  lesson.  From  that  day,  for 
forty-three  years,  his  wife  never  heard  him 
give  way  to  temper  and  raise  his  voice  in 
anger. 

A    MEMORABLE    HUNTING    TRIP. 

Once  in  his  early  pastorate  he  was  out 
camping  with  a  party  of  hunters.  At  bed- 
time, in  the  m.idst  of  the  general  laughter  and 
confusion  —  without  any  ostentation  —  the 
young  St.  Louis  divine  began  to  read  his 
Bible,  and  when  he  was  through  he  politely 
requested  silence  for  a  short  time  while  he 
knelt  in  prayer. 

The  men  of  the  world — for  it  was  not  a 
party  of  ministers  by  any  means — were  hush- 
ed in  a  moment. 

The  scene  made  a  great  impression  on 
one  young  man.  He  was  so  attracted  by  the 
manly  young  minister-woodsman's  consistency 
that  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to  join  in  the  Bible 
reading  the  next  night.  The  others  did 
likewise.  Soon  the  question  ''What  shall  I 
do  to  be  saved  ? "  was  asked,  and  the  one  who 
had  first  been  allowed  to  join  in  Dr.  Brookes' 
devotions  became  a  Christian.  He  always 
said  that  Dr.  Brookes'  practice  of  his  preach- 
ing under  those  trying  circumstances  led  him 
to  take  this  step. 


CAPTAIN  GREATHEART.  227 

Once  while  walking  on  the  porch  of  a 
hotel  in  Colorado,  Dr.  Brookes  was  accosted 
by  another  guest,  also  a  St.  Louisan. 

''Dr.  Brookes,"  said  the  man,  ''that  wo- 
man over  there  made  me  swear,"  (pointing  to 
an  acquaintance.)  "A  fly  was  bothering  her; 
she  kept  brushing  it  away  in  vain.  So  I 
swore  for  her,  as  she  couldn't,  being  a   lady." 

"My  friend,  I  have  a  little  black  book  in 
my  pocket  which  I  would  like  to  read  to  you, 
if  you  will  permit  me." 

"Certainly." 

Dr.  Brookes  then  took  out  of  his  pocket  a 
copy  of  the  New  Testament  which  he  always 
carried  with  him,  and  read  a  few  verses  to  the 
St.  Louisan. 

The  next  day  the  two  men  met  again. 

"Have  you  got  that  little  black  book  with 
you  now,  Doctor?  " 

"Yes,  I  always  carry  it." 

"Well,  I  wish  you  would  read  some  more 
of  it  to  me." 

Dr.  Brookes  did  so,  and  the  man's  eyes 
filled  with  tears. 

Not  long  after  this  man  died  in  St.  Louis. 

He  was  a  member  of  a  prominent  Roman 
Catholic  family.  But  at  his  last  moment  he 
commanded   them   to  vSend  for  Dr.    Brookes, 


228  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

and  with  him  at  his  side  made  his  peace  with 
God. 

Such  experiences  of  Dr.  Brookes  might 
fill  this  book.  These  have  been  given  to 
throw  light  on  his  many-sided  life  and  work. 
Like  St.  Paul,  he  was  ''all  things  to  all  men." 

HE  HAD  BEEN  A  DOUBTER. 

Dr.  Brookes  went  through  deep  waters  in 
his  early  Christian  experiences.  His  diary 
shows  that.  At  times  the  foundations  of  his 
faith  were  shaken,  and  he  went  through  all 
that  the  infidel  does.  But  he  came  out  victor- 
ious, never  again  to  be  troubled  himself,  and 
a  bulwark  to  all  who  were  in   such  perplexity. 

His  bitter  experiences  were  used  to  great 
good  in  later  life.  He  knew  the  workings  of 
the  minds  of  the  skeptics  he  reasoned  with. 
Many  of  them  testified  that  he  only,  of  all  the 
ministers  they  ever  talked  with,  could  appeal 
to  them.     Scores  were  led  to  faith  by  him. 


Looking  Backward. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
LOOKING  BACKWARD. 

N  February  18,1883,  Dr.  Brookes  preach- 
ed a  striking  sermon  on  i  Cor.   ii.  i,  2. 
Its  title  was   ''Twenty-five  years  in 
the    Master's  Service."     This  was    preached 
at    the    Washington    and    Compton    Avenue 
Church. 

In  the  discourse  he  reviewed  his  long 
years  of  duty  in  St.  Louis.  Fortunately,  it 
was  printed,  being  one  of  the  few  sermons  of 
later  years  which  he  wrote  out. 

It  recalls  in  an  interesting  manner  the 
facts  of  his  St.  Louis  pastorate  up  to  that 
time,  and  also  presents  an  outline  picture  of 
the  city's  general  religious  history.    . 

''twenty-five  years  in  the  master's 

SERVICE." 

"And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  you, 
came  not  with  excellency  of  speech  or  of  wis- 
dom, declaring  unto  you  the  testimony  of 
God.     For  I  determined  not  to  know  anything 

231 


2^2  JAMKS   H.    BROOKES:      A   MKMOIR. 

among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  cruci- 
fied."—  I  Cor.  ii.  1-2. 

**  Precisely  twenty-five  years  ago  this  text 
suggested  the  theme  of  my  first  sermon  in  St. 
Louis,   on  the   Lord's   day,  as  pastor-elect  of 
the    Second    Presbyterian  Church.     Arriving 
in  the  city  the  Friday  evening  previous,  and 
impatient  to  end  a  long  and  wearisome  journey, 
I  left  the  omnibus  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Market,  and  walked  down  the  icy  street  to  the 
residence  of  Judge  Gamble,   who  had  kindly 
invited  me  to  become  his    guest.     Well   do   I 
recall  the  oppressive  sense  of  loneliness,    of 
conscious  insufficiency  for  the  pastoral  charge 
of  a  church   that  had  enjoyed  the  ministry  of 
the  sainted  Dr.  Potts,  and  of  Dr.  Rice,  who  was, 
in  my  estimation,   'the    prince   of  preachers;' 
and  the  sadness  was  increased  by  the  thought 
that  I  had  left  a  people  who  were  very  near  to 
my  heart.     But  these    melancholy  reflections 
were  scattered  by  the  unexpected  appearance 
of  Gen.  Edwards,  Mr.  Joseph  Powell  and  Mr. 
Charles  D.  Drake,  who  met  me  in  the  street 
with  the  welcome  intelligence  that  prayer  had 
been  offered  in  my  behalf;  that  an  unusual   in- 
terest   pervaded  the    congregation;    and    that 
service  had  been  appointed  for  that  evening. 
After   supper   we    proceeded    to   the     church 


I.OOKING   BACKWARD,  233 

building,  which  then  stood  on  the  corner  of 
Fifth  and  Walnut;  and  those  assembled  Avere 
addressed  from  the  words,  'Grieve  not  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  are  sealed 
unto  the  day  of  redemption,'  Eph.  iv.  30. 

''At  the  close  of  the  service  all  who  de- 
sired to  be  saved  were  invited  to  remain  for 
prayer  and  conversion,  and  three  persons  ac- 
cepted the  invitation. 

"Three  of  our  present  session  and  a 
number  of  others  worshipping  with  us  to-day, 
are  the  fruits  of  the  revival  which  followed 
that  first  meeting. 

"On  the  succeeding  Lord's  day  the  text 
was  selected  which  is  chosen  this  morning, 
because  it  embodied  the  aim  of  my  ministry 
and  the  purpose  of  my  coming  to  St.  Louis: 
'And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  you,  came 
not  with  excellency  of  speech  or  of  wisdom, 
declaring  unto  you  the  testimony  of  God. 
For  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among 
you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified.' 
How  poorly  this  aim  has  been  accomplished; 
how  feebly  and  imperfectly  this  purpose  has 
been  executed,  no  one  can  understand  as  well 
as  myself.  Indeed,  it  is  with  unaffected  shame 
and  sorrow  my  thoughts  run  over  these  twenty- 
five   years,    reviewing   so   many   failures;    so 


234  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A    MEMOIR. 

many  mixed  and  unhallowed  motives;  so  many 
words  which  should  never  have  been  uttered; 
so  many  hours  of  idleness;  so  many  doubts 
and  fears  and  seasons  of  unbelief  and  of  sore 
spiritual  conflict  with  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil;  so  many  weak  and  unworthy  at- 
tempts to  preach  the  Gospel,  that  memory 
alone  would  drive  me  from  the  pulpit  into 
silence  and  despair  were  it  not  that  God's 
sovereign  and  inexhaustible  grace  shall  be 
glorified  in  my  personal  humiliations.  Truly, 
in  my  case,  the  treasure  has  been  committed 
to  an  earthen  vessel,  that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  might  be  of  Him,  and  not  of  me." 

HIS    PULPIT    IDEAL. 

''But  He  is  my  witness  also  that  it  has 
been  my  wish  to  keep  that  first  text  constantly 
in  view;  not  seeking  to  please  men,  but  Christ; 
not  striving  to  be  popular,  but  to  preach  the 
truth;  not  laboring  to  exhibit  excellency  of 
speech  or  of  wisdom,  but  declaring  the  testi- 
mony of  the  written  Word  in  all  simplicity  and 
sincerity.  Let  me  add  that  just  so  far,  and 
only  so  far,  as  I  have  foolishly  yielded  to 
temptation  to  depart  from  the  text,  are  the 
recollections  of  my  ministry  bitter  and  painful; 
and  let  me  express  the  conviction,  which  is  far  more 
profound  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  ceyitury  ago^  that  it 


I.OOKING    BACKWARD.  235 

is  the  one  absorbings  eiitire,  and  exclusive  duty  and 
privilege  of  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  declare  the 
testimony  of  God  plainly ,  boldly  a7id  faithfully,  and  to 
k?iow  7iothi7ig  among  his  people  ^savefesus  Christ,  a?id 
Him  crucified.' 

"  '"*  ^^  Let  me  briefly  trace  the  history  of 
this  church  through  the  twenty-five  years  now 
closing.  During  the  greater  part  of  this  long 
period  it  has  been  a  somewhat  turbulent  his- 
tory, for  we  have  lived  in  stormy  times.  First, 
after  a  year  or  two  of  unparalleled  political 
excitement,  the  civil  war  began  in  1861;  and 
nowhere  did  it  burst  with  greater  violence  than 
in  this  State  and  city.  Scarcely  had  it  ceased 
before  the  singularly  unwise  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  1865  led  to  the  publication 
of  a  vigorous  protest,  known  as  the  '  Declara- 
tion and  Testimony.'  This  paper  was  regard- 
ed by  those  in  ecclesiastical  authority  as  schis- 
matical  in  its  tendency,  and  wanting  in  proper 
respect  to  the  highest  court  of  the  church;  and 
the  General  Assembly  which  met  in  St.  Louis 
in  1866,  after  a  fierce  discussion  of  many  days, 
excluded  those  who  had  signed  it  from  their 
seats  in  that  body,  and  passed  upon  them  a 
severe  sentence.  The  action  of  the  Assembly 
was  followed  by  the  formation  of  the  Indepen- 
dent Synod  of  Missouri,  with  which  our 
church  became  identified,  although  several  of 


236  JAMKS   H.    BROOKKS:     A   MEMOIR. 

our  members  who  were  In  warm  sympathy 
with  the  Assembly  in  its  political  legislation 
withdrew  from  our  connection.  The  church 
remained  in  this  independent  attitude  until 
1874,  when  the  Assembly,  that  again  met  in 
St.  Louis,  unanimously  adopted  the  principles 
for  which  we  had  contended,  and  acted  in  a 
manner  so  Christian  and  generous  that  the  great 
body  of  our  people  felt  that  the  strife  ought  to 
end.  There  were  some,  however,  who  pre- 
ferred to  be  in  the  Southern  Assembly;  and 
when  the  church  finally  united  with  the  North- 
ern Presbytery  these  withdrew.*  '"'" 

SOME    FACTS    AND    FIGURES. 

*'Amid  all  these  commotions  God  has 
never  left  Himself  without  a  witness  that  His 
Spirit  was  with  us,  although  it  was  of  the 
Lord's  mercies  that  we  were  not  consumed. 
There  has  never  been  a  communion  season — 
which  occurs  every  two  months — when  we  did 
not  receive  one  or  more  into  our  number.  I 
find  from  a  printed  sermon  of  mine,  delivered 
on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  that 
from  the  i8th  of  February,  1858,  to  April, 
1864,  there  were  received  184  by  confession  of 
faith  and  154  by  letter,  making  a  total  of  338. 
The    Walnut    Street    Church    was   organized 


tOOKING    BACKWARD.  237 

July  4,  1864,  and  at  the  same  meeting  called 
me  to  be  the  pastor.  My  last  sermon  in  the 
Second  Church  was  preached  July  8,  1864, 
and  the  following  Wednesday  evening  my 
ministry  began  in  the  Walnut  Street  Church. 
From  that  time  until  the  delivery  of  my  last 
sermon  in  the  building  on  the  corner  of  Six- 
teenth and  Walnut  streets,  April  27,  1879, 
there  were  received  869  upon  confession  and 
604  by  letter,  making  a  total  of  1,473.  T"he 
ground  upon  which  this  building  stands  was 
broken  for  the  foundation  July  4,  1877;  the 
corner  stone  was  laid  October  27,  1877;  our 
first  service  in  the  lecture-room  was  held  May 
4,  1879;  and  our  first  service  in  the  room  in 
which  we  are  assembled  to-day,  December  5, 
1880.  In  the  period  of  less  than  four  years 
since  we  came  to  our  present  place  of  worship 
we  have  received  173  upon  confession  and  157 
by  letter,  making  a  total  of  330,  or  2,141  in  all, 
showing  an  average  increase  of  nearly  two  for 
every  week  during  the  twenty-five  years. 

"While  we  met  for  public  worship  on  the 
corner  of  Sixteenth  and  Walnut  the  church 
raised  for  building  purposes  ^^84,987,  for  cur- 
rent expenses  $132,082.54,  and  for  benevolent 
work  $47,571.79.  To  this  should  be  added 
nearly  $40,000  raised  by  the  l^die?   for   the 


238  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

support  of  the  Presbyterian  Home.  Since  the 
occupancy  of  this  building  we  have  raised  in 
cash  $65,278  for  current  expenses  and  the 
payment  of  the  church  debt,  and  given  away 
$4,906  to  help  forward  the  work  of  the  Lord 
in  other  places.  To  this  must  be  added 
$8,511.97  made  or  contributed  by  the  ladies, 
who  have  labored  faithfully  and  continually. 

"We  have  always  sustained  mission  Sun- 
day-schools, three  of  which  are  now  conduct- 
ed by  our  people;  and  for  much  of  the  time 
city  missionaries  have  been  supported  to  carry 
the  Gospel  to  the  poor.  Two  of  our  members 
are  now  laboring  in  the  foreign  field  among 
the  heathen,  and  about  twenty  young  men, 
during  the  twenty-five  years,  have  gone  forth 
to  preach  the  Word  as  pastors  or  evange- 
lists. *  ^'' 

PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS. 

"One  of  the  most  impressive  lessons 
learned  in  these  twenty-five  years  is  the  little- 
ness of  every  man's  life. 

"Of  all  the  pastors  who  were  here  when  I 
came  to  St  Louis  but  two  remain.  Those  of 
most  note  were  Dr.  Nelson,  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church;  Dr.  S.  J.  P.  Anderson,  of 
the  Central  Church;  Dr.  McPheeters,  of  the 
Pine  Street  Church;  Dr.  Porter,  of  the  Union 


LOOKING   BACKWARD.  239 

Church;  Dr.  Boyle,  of  the  First  Methodist 
Church;  Mr. — afterwards  Bishop — Marvin,  of 
the  Centenary  Methodist  Church;  Bishop 
Hawks,  of  the  Episcopal  Church;  Dr.  Post  of 
the  Congregational  Church;  and  Dr.  G.  Ander- 
son, of  the  Second  Baptist  Church. 

**I  have  attended  about  500  funerals,  and 
among  them  the  obsequies  of  distinguished 
citizens,  as  Thos.  H.  Benton,  Gov.  Gamble, 
Joseph  Charless,  Gen.  Blair  and  others;  and, 
although  a  great  crowd  thronged  the  streets 
as  the  procession  moved  on  to  the  dirge  of 
martial  music,  or  followed  the  sable  plumes  of 
the  hearse,  it  often  recalled  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  *  Behold,  Thou  hast  made  my  days 
as  an  hand-breadth,  and  mine  age  is  as  noth- 
ing before  Thee.  Verily,  every  man  at  his 
best  state  is  altogether  vanity.  Selah.  Surely 
every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show;  surely  they 
are  disquieted  in  vain;  He  heapeth  up  riches 
and  knoweth  not  who  shall  gather  them.  And 
now.  Lord,  what  wait  I  for  ?  My  hope  is  in 
Thee/ 

•'The  session  of  the  Second  Church  was, 
in  some  respects,  a  remarkable  body  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  Judge  Gamble,  a  man  of  rare 
wisdom,  and  simple  faith,  and  sustained  con- 
secration, who  bound  me  to  him  with  hooks  of 


240  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

Steel;  Archibald  Gamble,  who  was  an  earnest 
believer  in   the  pre-millennial  coming    of  the 
Lord  before   I  saw  'that  blessed  hope'  shin- 
ing through  the  gloom;  Wyllis  King,  so  bright 
and  genial,  and  gifted  in  prayer;  Joseph  Powell, 
full  of  gentleness  and  kindness;  John  Simonds, 
who,  as  if  with  a  premonition  of  death,  tender- 
ly  shook   hands  with    every    member   of  the 
session  the  evening  preceding  the  collision  on 
the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad  by  which  he  was 
instantly  killed     Thos.    H.  West,   Gen.    Ed- 
wards, Chas  D.  Drake  and  Eustace  H.  Smith 
were  the  ruling  elders.    Mr,  Drake  is  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Court  of  Claims,  in  Washington  City; 
and  Mr.  Smith  resides  in    Peoria,  111.     Of  the 
session  chosen  at  the  organization  of  the    Wal- 
nut Street  Church  none  have  been   called  up 
higher  except  our  beloved  brother,  James  L. 
Sloss,  whose  absence  my  heart  keenly  feels 
this  morning.     But,  oh  !  how  many  have  been 
removed  from  other  circles.   There  is  scarcely 
a  pew  occupied  by  those  who  have  been  with 
us  for  even  a  few  years,  from  which  some  one 
has  not  gone  out  to  return  no  more.     From 
one    pew  a   father,  from    another  a    mother, 
from     another    a    husband,    from    another    a 
precious  child;  and  heaven   is  growing  richer 
and  earth  poorer  so  fast. 


I^OOKING    BACKWARD.  241 

**  *  They' re  gathering   homeward  from  every 

land; 
As  their  weary  feet  touch  the  shining  strand 
They  rest  with  the    Saviour,   they  wait  their 

crown, 
Their  travel-stained  garments  are  all  laid  down; 
They  wait  the  white  raiment  the    Lord  shall 

prepare 
For  all  who  the  glory  with  Him  shall  share. 
One  by  one,  one  by  one,  fording  the  river  one 

by  one. 
Gathering  home,  gathering  home,  yes,  one  by 

one/" 


The  Pastor  Emeritus. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  PASTOR  EMERITUS. 

HERE  has  been   found  among  the   papers 
^     of  Dr.  Brookes  the  following,  which  was 
attached  to  the  memorial  sermon  quot- 
ed in  the  preceding  chapter. 

This  datum  shows  the  results  of  Dr. 
Brookes'  labors  in  his  church  from  February 
i8,  1883,  to  October  16,  1894. 

It  is  reproduced  in  full: 

**The  sermon"  (that  which  has  just  been 
quoted),  "was  preached  February  18,  1883. 
Up  to  that  date  there  had  been  received  into 
connection  with  the  church  2,141  persons,  and 
during  the  last  ten  years,  including  April 
I,  1893,  there  were  received  613  by  confes- 
sion and  letter,  makinga  total  of  2,754. 

•*  During  the  period  we  worshipped  in  the 
building  on  the  corner  of  Sixteenth  and  Wal- 
nut streets,  and  up  to  the  date  of  the  preach- 
ing of  this  printed  sermon,  there  was  contri- 
buted   and    disbursed    the    sum    of    $383,334. 


245 


246  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:      A   MEMOIR. 

Within  these  past  ten  years  the  people  have 
given  to  various  objects  at  least  j^20o,ooo, 
making  a  total  of  $583,334. 

"Within  these  last  ten  years  the  pastor 
has  edited  ten  volumes  of  The  Truth,  and  writ- 
ten and  published  'The  Mystery  of  Suffer- 
ing,' 'Till  He  Come,'  'Chaff  and  Wheat,' 
'The  Bible  under  Fire,'   and  'The  Christ.' 

*'James  H.  Brookes." 


Dr.  Brookes  struggled  against  ill-health 
during  the  final  years  of  his  pastorate.  But 
he  kept  up  to  his  full  work,  never  sparing  him- 
self, until,  one  Sunday  morning,  he  gave  evi- 
dence of  being  on  the  verge  of  an  immediate 
physical  break-down. 

A  severe  attack  of  la  grippe  had  prostrat- 
ed him,  and  left  behind  the  seeds  of  a  fatal 
malady. 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life,  this  Sunday 
morning,  he  found  that  the  Scriptural  texts  did 
not  flow  as  readily  from  his  tongue  as  air  from 
his  nostrils. 

That  was,  indeed,  an  alarming  sign  to  his 
church  officers.  One  of  them  hastened  up  to 
him  at  the  close  of  the  sermon,  and  said: 

"This  won't  do,  Doctor;  you  must  stop 
and  go  away  for  a  rest." 


THK    PASTOR  KMERITUS.  247 

'4  must  wrait  until  the  communion,  next 
Sunday/' 

**No,  you  must  not  wait  for  anything;  you 
must  stop  right  here." 

A  very  short  time  after,  Dr.  Brookes  was 
in  Asheville,  N.  C,  where  he  spent  some 
time  during  the  winter.  He  had  pleasant 
companions,  did  not  work,  and  was  out  of 
doors  most  of  the  time — frequently  riding 
horseback. 

He  returned  to  St.  Louis  greatly  strength- 
ened, and  plunged  into  his  work  again. 

But  it  soon  became  evident  to  all  that  he 
must  have  relief,  and  plans  were  made  to  se- 
cure an  assistant  pastor. 

Rev.  George  T.  Eddy,  a  young  pastor  of 
Beverly,  N.  J.,  was  chosen  to  do  this  work. 

He  was  a  faithful,  consecrated  and  schol- 
arly young  preacher.  He  assumed  all  of  the 
burdens  upon  his  shoulders  that  Dr.  Brookes 
would  let  him  bear.  During  the  summer  he 
did  the  entire  church  work.  The  relation  be- 
tween the  old  and  young  minister  was  as  that 
of  a  father  and  son. 

Later,  circumstances  led  to  Dr.  Brookes' 
resignation  from  the  pulpit  he  had  honored  so 
many  years. 

At  an  enthusiastic  meeting  of  the  congre- 


248  JAMKS  H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

gation,  Dr.  Brookes  was  made  "Pastor  Emeri- 
tus," and  Mr.  Eddy  was  named  as  Stated 
Supply  of  the  pulpit. 

This  arrangement  was  continued  for  some 
time,  Dr.  Brookes  preaching  in  the  morning 
whenever  his  health  permitted.  Occasionally 
he  conducted  both  services.  In  addition  to 
his  regular  church  services,  he  was  also  called 
on  for  many  other  duties — special  sermons, 
Bible  readings,  and  the  like.  He  frequently 
went  to  such  meetings  when  not  physically 
able.  It  was  always  hard  for  him  to  say  *'no'' 
when  asked  to  give  a  Bible  reading. 

A  true  story  which  is  apropos,  is  part  of 
the  family  history.  He  had  gone  abroad  for 
a  change,  to  soothe  some  very  tired  nerves  and 
seek  respite  from  insomnia.  After  some  re- 
cuperation he  attended  the  Mildmay  Confer- 
ence. There  he  was  continually  surrounded 
by  eager  questioners,  Bible  in  hands.  ^  Then 
he  went  over  upon  the  continent, to  Kissingen. 
Here,  at  last,  thought  his  anxious  wife,  there 
will  be  no  Bible  students  to  tire  him  and  coun- 
teract the  good  effect  of  the  trip. 

But,  alas,  she  soon  saw  that  she  had 
reckoned  without  her  host.  Dr.  Brookes'  fame 
had  preceded  him, and  numerous  English  visit- 
ors had  gathered  about  him;  and  the  usual 
program  was  being  carried  out. 


THE  PASTOR   KMERITUS  249 

Then  and  there  the  loving,  gentle  wife 
rebelled.  She  declared  that  she  would  pack 
her  trunks  and  go  right  back  to  St.  Louis  if  he 
did  not  promise  instant  reform. 

He  ''reformed. '* 

LAST  EVANGELISTIC  SERVICES. 

After  he  became  Pastor  Emeritus,  Dr. 
Brookes  was  able  to  accept  invitations  to  do 
evangelistic  work  in  various  sections  of  the 
land,  which  heretofore  his  stated  duties  in  the 
pastorate  had  made  impossible. 

While  his  health  was  not  good,  yet  he 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  work,  and  there  was  a 
stimulus  in  the  meeting  of  so  many  new,  zeal- 
ous friends  which  seemed  more  beneficial 
than  medicine.  So,  charging  him  to  be  care- 
ful, his  family  consented  to  his  accepting  some 
of  the  many  invitations  that  came  to  him. 

He  conducted  special  meetings  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  in  Michigan,  in  Kansas  City,  in 
Minneapolis,  and  elsewhere,  with  marked  suc- 
cess; all  within  the  two  years  preceding  his 
death.  He  came  home  the  better,  if  anything, 
for  this  work. 

What  seemed  to  wear  him  out  was  night 
work  of  various  kinds  in  his  own  city.  He  at- 
tended many  special  services  in  inaccessible 
parts  at  great  cost  to  his  physical  well-being. 


250  JAMES  H.    BROOKKS:      A   MEMOIR. 

Just  previous  to  the  break-down  which  caused 
his  sojourn  at  Stafford  Springs,  Miss.,  he  had 
preached  for  ten  nights;  then  he  had  held  a 
special  service  in  East  St.  Louis.  He  was  in 
the  midst  of  other  evangelistic  work  in  his 
city  when  he  became  ill  and  was  forced  to  stop 
all  work  for  a  time. 

HIS    BURDENSOME    CORRESPONDENCE. 

Another  duty  which  he  faithfully,  con- 
scientiously and  laboriously  performed,  was 
answering  daily  from  six  to  a  score  of  letters, 
some  of  them  often  demanding  lengthy  ans- 
wers. 

These  letters  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  chiefly  from  those  who  had  learned  to 
know  Dr.  Brookes  through  hearing  him  at 
conferences,  or  by  the  reading  of  his  books, 
or  The  Truth, 

Many  letters  came  from  young  preachers 
who  wanted  light  on  knotty  points.  Carefully 
and  fully  the  letters  would  be  answered. 
Sometimes  this  task  took  a  good  part  of  the 
day. 

It  actually  seemed  as  if  anyone  who  had 
anywhere  heard  anything  in  the  nature  of  an 
uncommon  attack  on  the  Bible  at  once  ran  for 
paper  and  pen  to  tell  Dr.  Brookes  of  it,  and  to 


THE   PASTOR   EMERITUS.  251 

ask  for  the  proper  answer  with  which  to  anni- 
hilate the  skeptic  who  propounded  it. 

Often  Dr.  Brookes  would  be  asked  to 
"outline"  sermons  and  addresses  for  ministers 
in  all  parts  of  the  land,  "because  he  knew  so 
much  about  the  Bible,"  while  their  ignorance 
of  the  special  subject  in  hand  would  be  frankly 
confessed.  In  this  respect  some  startling 
facts  might  be  told, 

Masses  of  manuscript  on  works  requiring 
expert  knowledge  of  the  Bible  were  frequent- 
ly brought  to  him  for  revision  or  criticism. 
(Had  he  ever  asked  any  remuneration — on  the 
scale  which  "experts"  in  all  other  professions 
are  paid — his  income  would  have  been  co- 
lossal. But  a  "thank  you"  was  all  he  ever  ex- 
pected, and  occasionally  that  was  lacking.  All 
he  had  to  will  away  were  his  books  and  his 
prayers  for  his  grandchildren.) 

He  was  deluged,  too,  with  correspondence 
of  a  private  nature  on  almost  every  conceiva- 
ble subject.  Everything  seemed  to  be  hurled 
at  him  via  the  U.  S.  mails — that  is,  every- 
thing but  stamps  for  the  reply. 

His  family  believe  that  what  helped 
largely  to  hasten  his  final  collapse  was  his 
conscientious   desire  to  answer    all   calls   for 


iSi  JAMIBS   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

duty  in  the  local  field, and  to  respond  promptly 
to  his  daily  mass  of  correspondence. 

He  did  both  up  to  the  week  before  his 
death,  contrary  to  their  earnest  wishes. 

They  understand,  of  course,  that  no  one 
knowingly  would  have  burdened  him  so  sore- 
ly. They  understand  equally  well  that  his 
life  and  health  were  dear  to  thousands  besides 
those  of  his  own  home  circle. 

DR.   BROOKES'  LAST  SERMON. 

The  outline  notes  of  the  last  sermon  Dr. 
Brookes  ever  preached  are  here  reproduced 
from  a  leaf  in  his  Bible. 

It  was  delivered  with  wonderful  fervor, on 
Sunday  morning,  April  ii,  1897.  T^his  is  the 
only  "manuscript"  he  had  of  it: 

*'THEY    SHALI.   NEVER    PERISH." — JNO.  X.  28. 

I.     Atonement:     Matt.    xx.  28;  xxvi.  28;  Rom. 
V.  6;  1  Cor.  xv.  3;  2  Cor.  v.  21;  Gal.   i.   4; 
Hi.  13;  Eph.  i.  7:  1  Peter  ii.  24. 
II.     Forgiveness:     Luke  v.  20;  vii.  48;  Acts  x. 
43;  Col.  ii.  13-15;  1  John  i.  7;  ii.  12;  Ps.  ciii. 
12:  Isa.  xxxiii.  17;  Micah  vii.  19. 
III.     Intercession:     Luke  xxii.  32;  John  xvii.  20; 
Rom.  viii.  34;  Heb.  iv,  14,  15;  v.  20;  vii. 
24-26;  1  John  ii.  1;  Rev.  viii.  3. 
IV.    Omnipotence:     Matt,  xxviii.  12;  John  iii.  35; 
xiii.  3;  xvii.  2;  Eph.  i.  20-22;  Phil.  ii.  9-11; 
Heb.  i.  2;  1  Peter  iii.  22;  Dan.  iv.  35. 
V.    Omniscience:    John  ii.  24,  25;  xvi.  30;  xxi. 


THE   PASTOR   EMERITUS.  253 

17;  Matt.  ix.  4;  xii.  25;  Acts  i.  24;  Heb.  iv. 
13;  Rev.  ii.  23. 
VI.  Omnipresence:  Matt,  xxviii.  20:  xviii.  20; 
Mark  xvi.  20;  John  xiv.  23;  Acts  xviii. 
9,  10. 
VII.  Unchanging  Love:  John  xiii.  1;  xiv.  19; 
XV.  13;  Rom.  viii.  35-37;  Phil.  i.  6;  1  John 
iii.  15;  Rev.  i.  5,  6. 

He  might  truly  have  been  preaching  his 
own  funeral  sermon.  Immortality  was  the 
key  note  of  the  discourse. 

At  the  close  of  that  sermon  it  was  observ- 
ed by  a  member  of  his  family  that  Dr.  Brookes 
stopped  in  front  of  his  pulpit  and  gazed  care- 
fully all  around  the  great  auditorium.  Not  a 
detail  escaped  him.  His  eyes  rested  on  the 
window  erected  as  a  memorial  for  his  eldest 
daughter,  Etta. 

Then  he  looked  at  the  retreating  congre- 
gation. When  the  last  one  had  departed  he 
turned  slowly  and  thoughtfully  into  his  study. 

He  said  nothing  about  this  uncommon 
deed;  for  his  dear  ones  never  before  saw  him 
do  as  he  did  that  Sunday.  But  they  have 
often  wondered  if  he  had  not  some  premoni- 
tion that  it  was  his  last  sermon. 

HIS    FINAL    TESTIMONY. 

The  last  address  Dr.  Brookes  ever  made 
was  on  the  Sunday  evening  before  he  died. 


254  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

He  recalled  in  a  personal  testimony  service 
some  very  trying  youthful  experiences  which 
he  had  passed  through.  These  were  his  days 
of  doubt;  the  days  when  he  almost  gave  up  his 
Christianity. 

Those  who  heard  him  were  thrilled. 
Had  they  but  known  what  a  week  was  to 
bring  forth  how  carefully  would  every  word 
have  been  taken  down  and  preserved  for  all 
time. 

But,  as  always  was  the  case,  the  address 
was  made  without  manuscript  and  only  the 
spirit  of  the  burning  testimony,  not  its  letter, 
remains  as  a  cherished  memory. 

The  text  he  brought  to  this  testimony  ser- 
vice was,  "This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy 
of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into 
the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief." 
(He  had  announced  in  the  morning  that  each 
one  was  expected  to  bring  some  verse  of 
Scripture  which  meant  something  special  to 
them  in  the  light  of  their  religious  exper- 
ience.) 

He  spoke  very  plainly  that  night.  It 
seemed,  he  said,  as  if  during  those  dark  da)s 
of  youthful  doubt,  he  had  lost  his  faith 
utterly.  Everything  was  gone.  He  told  his 
intimates  of  his  mental  state.     They  reasoned 


THE   PASTOR   EMERITUS.  255 

with  him,  but  it  seemed  to  bring  no  relier 
Then  a  prayer-meeting  was  held  in  his  room 
by  a  few  close  friends. 

There,  suddenly,  he  testified,  the  light 
broke  and  the  dark  clouds  of  doubt  were  dis- 
pelled. 

One  student,he  said,  had  been  the  special 
means  of  leading  him  back  into  his  former  at- 
titude of  mind.  He  mentioned  no  name  and 
in  all  probability  that  student  has  passed 
away. 


He  gave  for  the  last  time  his  clear,  un- 
mistakable testimony  to  "the  faith  that  was  in 
him." 

It  was  his  fitting  "Finis"  in  that  old, 
familiar  pulpit.  He  closed  the  Bible,  and  de- 
scended the  accustomed  pulpit  stairs,  never 
again  to  be  ascended  by  him. 

The  following  Sunday  morning  he  "fell 
asleep  in  Jesus." 

But  not  even  from  an  earthly  stand-point 
did  Dr.  Brookes'  earthly  ministry  really  cease 
that  Sunday  night, 

While  the  Bible  is  venerated,  and  while 
books  about  the  Bible  are  read,  his  name  will 
be  honored  among  the  children  of  men;  while 
his  ministry,  through  the  multitudes  of  earnest 


256 


JAMES  H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 


souls  he  has  saved,  and  through  the  printed 
page,  will  go  on  and  on  unto  the  shores  of 
Eternity. 


Translated. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
TRANSLATED. 

f^T  SUNRISE  on  Easter  Sunday,  April  i8, 
Pi  1897,  the  Rev.  James  Hall  Brookes,  D. 
•^  D.,  died,  aged  67  years,  i   month  and 

22  days. 

At  his  bed-side  were  his  wife,  his  three 
married  daughters,  their  husbands,  and  his 
sister.'"* 

As  a  tired  child  might  sink  to  sleep  in 
utmost  peace,  without  a  murmur  or  a  struggle, 
the  good  and  great  man  was  translated.  His 
death — as  his  life — was  a  sermon. 


On  his  way  home  from  church  Sunday 
night,  April  11,  he  began  to  feel  ill.  The 
next  morning  he  was  in  a  very  serious  condi-. 
tion,and  the  worst  was  anticipated  by  his  phy- 
sician and  life-long  friend.  Dr.  Lemoine. 

He   seemed  to  improve  on   Wednesday, 

*jdrs.  Henrietta  Brookes  Treadway,  who  died  after  a  long  and 
painful  illnese,  patiently  borne,  Oct.  29, 1897.  at  the  home  of  her  sister- 
in-law.    She  was  interred  by  the  side  of  her  husband  at  Pulaski,  Tenn. 

259 


260  JAMES    H.    BROOKES:      A   MEMOIR. 

and  hope  was  not  given  up  until  the  Saturday 
following.  That  night  the  physician  told  the 
family  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  At  midnight 
all  gathered  about  his  bedside  and  were  with 
him  until  the  end. 


All  through  his  last  illness,  while  wholly 
or  partially  conscious,  he  was  heard  to  quote 
Scripture;  and  his  last  recognizable  words 
were:  ''It  cometh  by  the  way  of  the  East, 
the  glory — as  it  is  in  Ezekiel" — the  rest  of 
the  sentence  could  not  be  caught. 

He  seemed  to  be  wholly  free  from  pain; 
much  of  the  time  he  was  asleep  or  semi- 
asleep.  But  however  drowsy  he  was  he  recog- 
nized his  dear  wife  as  she  constantly  minister- 
ed to  him. 


Many  were  struck  by  the  triumphant 
majesty  and  spiritual  beauty  of  the  face  of  the 
dead.  To  some  it  seemed  as  if  thirty  years 
had  been  rolled  backward,  and  he  was  before 
them  the  Doctor  Brookes  they  had  known 
when  in  his  splendid  meridian  of  life. 

A  gray-haired  minister,  after  gazing  upon 
the  form  of  his  old  friend,  said:  "Look  at  that, 
and  then  say  there  is  nothing  in  Christianity!" 

Similar  were  the  impressions  of  a  little 


Translated.  261 

grandchild.  ''It  didn't  look  like  grandpa," 
he  confided  to  his  mother;  *'it  looked  just  like 
an  angel." 


For  his  funeral  service  and  burial  Dr. 
Brookes  had  left  plainest  directions  in  his 
will.     These  were: 

''It  is  my  particular  request  that  at  my 
funeral  no  oration,  nor  eulogy,  nor  a  word 
about  myself  shall  be  uttered.  Let  some  min- 
ister, or  other  friend,  read  2  Cor.  v.  i-io;  i 
Cor.  xv;  i  Thess.  iv.  13-18;  Rev.  xxi.  i-y. 
This,  and  nothing  more." 

Like  everything  else  of  his,  Dr.  Brookes' 
will  was  characteristic.  This  document  he 
drew  up  in  April,  1896.  He  began  his  testa- 
ment thus: 

"It  is  my  wish  to  state,  as  a  preamble,  my 
faith  in  the  inerrant  inspiration  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  in  the  atoning  blood  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  hope  of  His  coming 
again. 

"My  library  is  left  to  my  children,  each 
selecting  such  books  as  they  may  desire.  The 
rest  of  the  books  may  be  presented  to  some 
poor  and  faithful  preacher,  or  preachers,  at 
their  discretion." 

He  then  gave  directions  for  his   simple 


262  JAMES   H.    BROOKKS:      A   MEMOIR. 

funeral  service  which  have  already  been 
quoted.  There  followed  directions  concerning 
his  grave.  His  wish,  which  has  been  faith- 
fully carried  out,  was: 

''A  plain  granite  slab,  not  less  than  four 
inches  thick,  shall  cover  both  graves — (that 
where  his  widow  shall  rest,  and  his  own). 

''The  foundation  must  be  deep,  and 
strong  and  immovable  as  any  human  work 
can  be,  F^ntirely  across  the  face  of  the  granite 
slab,  covering  both  graves,  cut  the  words: 

"  'Having  lived  together  in  love  for  forty- 
three  years,  they  sleep  together  in  hope  until 
the  morning  of  the  Resurrection;  when  they 
shall  be  caught  up  together  in  the  clouds  to 
meet  the  Lord  in  the  air;  and  so  shall  they 
ever  be  with  the  Lord.'  " 

Then  came  words  to  be  lovingly  remem- 
bered by  his  dear  ones:  "My  great  desire  is 
that  my  children  and  their  husbands,  and  the 
little  ones  whom  God  has  given  them,  may 
perform  faithfully  the  work  to  which  they  are 
called  in  the  world,  and  that  we  may  all  meet^ 
without  the  loss  of  one,  in  the  Everlasting 
Home  which  Christ  has  gone  on  before  to 
prepare  for  His  people,  redeemed  by  His 
precious  blood." 


.  Translated.  263 

THE    LAST    HONORS. 

The  great  auditorium  of  the  church  in 
which  he  had  ministered  for  thirty- nine  years 
was  crowded  before  the  hour  set  for  the  serv- 
ices. In  the  rear  hundreds  were  standing. 
Others  could  not  even  get  into  the  auditorium. 

There  were  scores  present  to  whom  Dr. 
Brookes  had  gently  and  faithfully  ministered 
in  their  own  hours  of  woe.  And  those  now 
**wept  with  those  who  wept." 

The  officers  of  the  church  had  ordered 
the  church  fittingly  draped  and  embellished; 
and  the  fl  ■)ral  artisans  themselves  seemingly 
strove  to  do  their  duty  perfectly. 

Before  the  pulpit  which  had  been  erected 
for  him,  that  which  was  mortal  of  the  great 
man  was  brought. 

A  blanket  of  beatiful  roses,  the  gift  of  the 
three  daughters, completely  covered  the  coffin. 
Only  those  flowers  were  laid  upon  it. 


When  Dr.  Meade  C.  Williams  announced 
the  words  of  direction  which  the  dead  pastor 
had  left  concerning  his  funeral  service,  many 
of  the  vast  audience  must  have  felt  some  sur- 
prise or  disappointment — at  first. 

But  soon  the  friends  saw  that  they  were 
mistaken,  and  that  there  was  grandeur  in  the 


264  JAMES   H.    BROOKES:   A   MEMOIR, 

very  simplicity  of  the  service.  It  is  not  easy 
to  imagine  any  funeral  more  impressive,  more 
uplifting. 

Dr.  Brookes  had  never  extolled  himself 
in  life,  nor  sought  human  encomiums;  and  in 
death  he  desired  no  formal  praise.  He  must 
have  known,  to  some  extent  at  least,  in  how 
many  homes  and  hearts  he  had  won  a  place. 
He  must  have  foreseen,  modest  as  he  always 
was,  that  among  the  multitudes  who  loved  and 
admired  him  heart  would  speak  to  heart  when 
his  end  came.  The  fellow  pastors  read  the 
favorite  passages  of  Scripture;  hymns  Dr. 
Brookes  had  loved  were  sung;  fervent 
prayers  were  offered, and  the  solemn  memorial 
service  was  over. 


It  was  a  clear,  beautiful  day.  The  cor- 
tege wound  its  course  to  the  Bellefontaine 
Cemetery  in  the  sunshine. 

The  reading  of  a  few  verses  of  Scripture 
and  a  touching  prayer  were  heard  at  the  grave. 

"Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant," said  Dr.  Farris,  as  he  turned  from  the 
side  of  his  old  companion;  and  every  one  in 
the  throng  about  the  family  burial  site  echoed 
his  saying  in  the  heart. 

Soon,    rarest  and   simplest   flowers,    the 


TRANSI^ATED.  265 

gifts  of  the  high  and  the  lowly — of  all  creeds 
and  no  creeds — were  placed  in  beautiful  pro- 
fusion over  the  grave. 

The  sun  was  sinking  as  the  stricken  dear 
ones  left  him.  As  they  turned  and  looked 
backward  its  rays  suddenly  burst  in  splendor 
upon  the  very  spot,  glorifying  the  trees  above 
and  the  tiowers  below  as  with  a  halo. 

And,  spite  of  tears,  peace  was  in  the  air, 
and  in  their  souls. 

*'0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory; 
O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  " 

FINIS. 


Hppendix. 


CONTRIBUTOES. 

President  Ethelbert  D.  Warfield,  Lafayette  College,  Pa. 

Eev.  Dr.  H.  M.  Parsons,  Toronto. 

Prof.  W.  G.  Moorehead,  Thelog-ical  Seminarj%  Xenia,  Ohio. 

Eev.  W.  J.  Erdman,  Germantown,  Pa. 

Prof.  Benj.  B.  Warfield,  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

Prof.  D.  C.  Marquis,  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

Samuel  W.  Barber,  Clerk  of  Session,  Washing-ton  &  Comp- 
ton  Ave.  Church. 

Robert  U.  Garrett,  Asheville,  N.  C,  and  other  friends. 


APPENDIX.  269 

DR.  BROOKES'  PERSONALITY. 

There  is  probably  no  force  or  combination  of  forces  in 
lauman  character  so  admirable  as  that  which  we  sum  up  in 
saying-  that  a  man  has  a.  strong  personalitj\  And  when 
that  personality  is  constantly  exerted  for  righteousness,  we 
have  the  noblest  of  earthly  influences.  From  my  earliest 
acquaintance  with  Doctor  Brookes  I  was  impressed  with 
the  tremendous  force  of  his  personality.  It  was  never  a 
question  merely  of  what  he  thought,  or  knew,  or  felt,  it 
was  ever  what  he  was.  His  thinking-,  feeling-,  knowing-, 
were  all  fjised  into  his  personality,  and  he  exerted  that 
personality  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  the 
service  of  God. 

It  was  my  privileg-e  to  know  him  very  intimately  and  to 
be  bound  to  him  by  a  very  close  and  tender  tie,  and  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  testify  to  the  larg-eness  and  breadth,  the  sim- 
plicity and  consistency  of  his  nature.  It  is  hard  to  say 
whether  the  strong-est  impression  he  made  upon  me  was 
that  of  a  singularly  simple  and  sincere  man,  or  of  a  man 
of  great  energ-y  and  force.  Simplicity  is  the  unfailing- 
mark  of  truly  g-reat  men,  and  he  had  it  in  a  very  high  de- 
gree. It  was  seen  in  his  love  for  the  companionship  of  little 
children,  in  his  abounding  sympathy,  in  his  impatience  of 
sham.  The  forcefulness  of  his  character  breathed  in  his 
every  movement;  and  but  for  the  sincerity  and  simplicity 
of  his  life  might  easily  have  overbalanced  his  other  quali- 
ties. As  it  was,  in  life,  in  speech,  in  the  abundant  fruitage 
of  his  pen,  he  bore  a  strong  and  assuring  testimony  to  the 
truth  whose  minister  he  was. 

Such  a  life  as  his  was  in  itself  "a  gospel  for  an  age  of 
doubt."  His  faith  was  not  only  sublime,  it  was  contagious. 
His  frank  and  fearless  mind  not  only  cherished  no  mental 
reservations,  but  sought  no  subtle  and  uncertain  forms  of 
expression.  Those  who  heard  him  know  that  he  had  given 
all  he  was  wholly,  absolutely,  to  the  dear  Lord  who  died 
for  him. 

Not  only  was  this  so,  but  he  was  able,  as  few  men  are,  to 
give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  was  in  him.     His  mastery  of 


270  APPENDIX. 

the  English  Bible  was  almost  unique.  His  Bible  readings 
were  convincing,  consoling,  compelling  in  their  richness, 
completeness  and  consistency.  He  knew  what  he  was  seek- 
ing to  set  forth,  he  knew  where  the  evidence  was  to  be 
found,  and  he  knew  how  to  present  it.  Herein  his  large 
and  logical  mind  found  ample  scope  and  was  scarcely  less 
effective  than  in  the  greater  iield  of  the  pulpit  in  which  he 
was  so  conspicuously  blessed  by  the  love  of  his  people  and 
the  favor  of  his  God. 

As  I  think  of  him,  the  words  which  Tennyson  uses  in 
speaking  of  Lazarius  rise  in  my  mind: 

"Behold  a  man  raised  up  by  Christ." 

Not  from  the  grave,  but  from  sin  and  worldliness,  was 
he  raised  up  to  the  full  stature  of  the  man  who  in  Jesus 
Christ  lives  and  labors.  Such  might  have  been  the  daily 
comment  on  his  life. 

ETHELBEKT  D.  WARFIELD. 

Lafayette  College. 


"A  FAITHFUL  PROPHET."* 

Dr.  Brookes  was  a  man  of  noble  personal  qualities,  and 
most  tender  and  affectionate  in  all  social  relations.  For 
twenty  years  our  acquaintance  was  most  intimate,  and 
chiefly  in  searching  and  seeking  the  meaning  of  the  pro- 
phetic Scriptures.  He  has  been  the  means  of  reaching  and 
saving  many  who  were  in  darkness  and  sorrow,  through  his 
most  faithful  gospel  teachings,  and  especially  by  the  words 
of  sympathy  and  comfort  to  mourners  he  so  frequently  and 
tenderly  expressed. 

He  has  always  and  with  notable  power  vindicated  the 
Scriptui'es  of  the  Old  and  Xew  Testaments,  in  their  original 
tongues,  to  be  the  very  words  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  men 
who  wrote  and  spake  them,  and  thus  to  be  eternally  the 
Word  of  God. 


•■^This,  and  some  other  articles  in  the  appendix,  appeared 
in  the  memorial  number  (June,  '07)  of  Tha  Truth. 


APPKNDIX.  271 

In  adiditiou  to  this  most  valiant  service,  he  always  main- 
tained the  supreme  authority  of  the  Bible  upon  the  in- 
dividual conscience  and  life.  His  ov^^n  life  v^^as  a  beautiful 
example  of  this.  More  than  any  one  I  ever  knew,  he  had 
the  Holy  Scriptures  verbally  in  memory,  and  could  give  in 
log-ical  form  the  very  words  of  the  Bible,  the  best  defence 
of  the  truth  they  reveal. 

While  he  looked  upon  this  present  evil  age  with  sincere 
pity  for  those  who  are  deceived,  and  with  cordial  sympathy 
for  those  who  are  oppressed  with  griefs  and  sorrows,  he 
could  use  a  sterness  and  severity  of  rebuke  in  dealing  with 
the  enemies  of  faith  which  only  could  arise  from  his  most 
intimate  communion  and  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of  truth  and  justice  in  the  divine 
character. 

The  utterances  of  the  ancient  prophets  whO'  were  com- 
missioned by  Jehovah  to  declare  His  judgments  upon  Israel 
and  Judas  for  their  transgressions,  and  especially  for  their 
^^  orldly  idolatry,  found  in  his  heart  such  meaning  and  such 
pertinent  application  to  this  present  age,  that  he  could  not 
refrain  from  testifying  as  a  faithful  prophet  of  God  to  that 
which  he  knew,  and  which  he  saw  in  the  church  and  the 
world  of  to-day.  For  this  reason  he  was  disliked  and  de- 
spised by  many,  who  saw  in  his  repeated  testimony  the 
condemnation  and  exposure  of  their  fallacies  and  deceptive 
errors. 

Though  our  dear  brother  is  now  at  rest,  his  works  will 
long  remain  to  witness  to  the  world  his  unswerving  loyalty 
to  God's  revealed  Word.  The  last  "Notes  by  the  Way"  in 
April  number  of  Truth,  is  more  signiticant  as  connected 
with  his  departure  to  be  with  the  Lord;  and  the  familiar 
repetition  of  the  "sevens,"  seems  like  a  completion  of  a  well 
rounded  life. 

"A  sure  reward,"  Ps.  Iviii.  11;  Kom.  iv.  5. 

1.  "The  Lord  Himself  is  the  reward,"  Gen.  xv.  1. 

2.  "Trusting  in  Him  has  a  reward,"  Ruth  ii.  3  2. 

3.  "Keeping  the  \a  ords  of  God  has  a  reward,"  Ps.  xix.  11. 

4.  "The  persecuted  for  Christ's  sake  have  a  reward," 
Matt.  V.  12. 


272  APPENDIX. 

5.     "Self-denial  has  a  reward,"  Matt.  xvi.  24,  27. 

G.     "Humble  service  has  a  reward,"  Mark  ix.  41. 

7.     "Sincere  faith  has  a  reward,"  Heb.  xi.  6. 

Trulj^  in  all  his  published  works  will  be  found  such  a 
clear  and  lucid  use  of  the  divine  words,  that  it  may  be 
said  of  him,  as  of  one  of  old,  "by  it  he  being-  dead  yet 
speaketh." 

H.  M.  PARSONS. 

Toronto. 


TWO  MARKED  CHARACTERISTICS. 

*  *  Of  the  many  thoughts  that  rush  into  the  mind  and 
almost  clamor  for  utterance  when  one  sits  down  to  writf^ 
of  Dr.  J.  H.  Brookes,  only  two  must  now  be  mentioned. 
One  is,  his  absolute  and  unfaltering"  conviction  of  the  in- 
errant  truth  of  Scripture.  To  him  the  Bible  was  the  very 
voice  and  words  of  the  living-  God.  All  his  life  throug-h, 
and  especially  in  his  later  years,  he  stood  for  the  doctrine 
of  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, w^here,  alas!  comparatively  few  now  stand,  even 
among-  those  who  are  recog-nized  as  teachers  and  expound- 
ers of  the  word.  He  believed  the  Bible  throug-h  and 
through.  He  repelled  attacks  upon  it  with  all  the  power  of 
his  splendid  manhood,  but  he  never  for  an  instant  dreamed 
of  apolig-izing-  for  it.  It  was  enoug-h  for  him  that  "Cod 
spake  all  these  words."  Whether  he  could  satisfactorily 
explain  all  its  diflficuilties  and  apparent  discrepancies  or  not 
was  a  secondary  matter,  for  he  well  knew  that  there  are 
depths  in  Scripture  that  no  human  mind,  however  acute 
and  penetrating,  can  ever  fully  explain;  but  he  could  no 
more  have  offered  an  excuse  for  the  Bible  or  for  its  form, 
than  he  could  for  the  creation  of  the  planet,  or  for  the 
government  of  the  universe. 

Besides,  he  bowed  to  the  authority  of  Scripture  with  a 
submissiveness  of  spirit  which  is  rare  indeed  in  these  de- 
generate times.       For  mere  human  learning  as  such,  for 


APPENDIX.  273 

science  "falsely  so  called,"  for  ]>ricle  of  intellect,  and  for 
the  vaunted  "progress"  of  the  race,  he  had  a  sovereig'n  con- 
tempt.      ■"■       * 

Another  thing-  that  distinguished  Dr.  Brookes  was  his 
feeling"  respecting  death.  It  was  a  feeling"  somewhat  pe- 
culiar to  him,  and  quite  remarkable.  His  own  dying  is 
not  meant,  nor  that  of  any  one  dear  to  him.  A  personal  fear 
of  death  did  not  oppress  him  more  than  others  of  the  Lord's 
l^eople.  All  we  know  of  his  last  days  on  earth  forbids  the 
notion  that  he  shrank  from  it,  or  was  troubled  by  its  ap- 
proach. What  is  meant  is,  that  he  had  what  may  be  called 
a  rig-hteous  indignation  against  death.  To  him  as  to  no 
other  we  have  ever  known  or  heard  preach  the  Cos|>el  of 
the  g"raoe  of  God,  death  was  an  enemy,  an  implacable,  in- 
exorable foe!  It  was  the  symbol  of  the  curse  of  sin,  the 
wag"es  of  sin,  the  destroyer  of  all  we  love  and  cherish,  the 
awful  doom  of  the  world.  *  *  Some  of  us  have  seen 
his  massive  frame  quiver  with  anguish  when  he  spoke  of 
it;  his  voice  grow  hoarse  with  suppressed  emotion  or  choke 
with  sobs.  And  wath  what  thrilling,  triumphant  accents 
would  his  bell-like  voice  ring  out  the  g-lad  words  of  the 
Holy  Ghost:  "The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is 
death  I"  It  was  this  deep  insig-ht  into  the  tremendous 
significance  of  death  that  made  the  blessed  hope  of  the 
Lord's  speedy  coming-  a  living-  and  transcendently  glorious 
event  to  him.      He  looked  for  the  blessed  return  of  Christ. 

He  has  fallen  asleep.  Was  he  disappointed?  Xo  more 
than  was  Paul,  who  also  waited  and  watched  for  the  Lord; 
no  more  than  multitudes  in  all  the  ag-es  to  the  present,  who 
likewise  watched  and  waited.  Asleep  in  Jesus,  our  brother 
does  not  cease  to  wait,  perhaps  all  the  more  waits  for  that 
blessed  day  when  his  body  shall  be  raised  up  and  made  like 
unto  the  body  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  As  one  by 
one  the  saints  pass  away,  with  what  pathetic  longing-  do 
we  say,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 

WILLIAM  G.  MOOEEHEAD. 

Xenia,  Ohio. 


274  APPENDIX. 

"THOSE  WHO  KNEW  HIM  BEST,  LOVED  HIM  MOST." 

About  twenty-seven  years  ago  I  first  met  Dr.  Brookes  in 
a  Christian  Conference  held  in  his  church  in  St.  Louis. 
Of  those  in  attendance  as  speakers,  three  names  have  ever 
since  been  associated,  in  mind,  as  inseparable  from  a 
peculiar  testimony  and  defence  of  the  faith  in  its  primitive 
and  apostolic  form;  James  Inglis,  editor  of  The  Witness  and 
of  Waymarks  in  the  Wilderness;  Charles  Campbell,  editor  of 
Grace  and  Truth,  and  James  H.  Brookes,  editor  of  The 
Truth, 

In  The  Truth  Dr.  Brookes  revealed  himself  in  such  char- 
acteristic features,  that  what  he  wrote  was  as  to  matter 
and  manner  very  like  what  he  was  in  public  discourse  in 
fearlessness  and  power,  and  In  private  intercourse  in 
g-eniality  and  graciousness  of  spirit. 

In  him  was  a  rare  combination  of  the  lion  and  the  lamb. 
His  exposure  and  denunciation  of  all  he  deemed  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God,  the  dignity  of  Christ  and  the  calling 
of  the  church,  showed  one  jjliase  of  his  character;  but  his 
tender  and  touching  testimony  concerning  the  grace  of 
God,  the  believer's  assurance  of  salvation  and  "the  blessed 
hope,"  revealed  quite  another.  Many,  however,  who  knew 
him  only  through  his  vigorous  defence  of  the  truth  of  the 
gospel  and  the  integrity  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  can  hard- 
ly understand  how  tender  and  sympathetic  a  heart  beat  in 
that  manly  form. 

Often  as  he  was  charged  with  giving  offence,  none  was 
more  ready  to  ask  forgiveness  than  he;  but  he  also  held 
the  truth  of  the  Bible  and  honor  of  Christ  dearer  than  any 
human  friendship  or  his  own  reputation  or  life. 

Those  who  knew  him  best  loved  him  most.  As  a  leader 
in  the  Bible  Conference  with  which  he  was  identified  from 
its  beginning,  he  ever  bore  a  marked  and  peculiar  testi- 
mony. *  *  I  shall  ever  thank  God  for  the  friendship 
and  fellowship  in  Christ  of  one  Avho  must  always  be  counted 

among  "the  worthies  of  the  faith." 

W.  J.  ETvDMAX. 
Germantown,  I'a. 


APPENDIX. 


NO  ANAEMIC  CHRISTIAN. 


275 


In  Dr.  James  H.  Brookes  the  Christian  church  has  lost 
onei  of  its  most  faithful  ministers,  one  of  its  most  powerful 
advocates  ,ancl  withal  one  of  the  most  picturesque  figures 
which  have  graced  its  pulpit  in  our  generation. 

Large  in  figure,  commanding  in  carriage,  fluent  and 
forceful  in  sfieech,  fired  with  intense  convictions,  infused 
with  emotion,  whether  in  pulpit  or  on  platform  his  oratory 
not  only  caught  the  attention,  but  dominated  the  feelings 
and  controlled  the  convictions  of  his  audience.  My  own 
memory  of  him  goes  back  nearly  thirty  years,  when,  as  a 
student  in  Princeton  College,  I  heard  him  preach  occasion- 
ally to  the  college  boys.  We  ahvays  heard  him  gladly;  and 
we  never  heard  him  without  profit  to  our  spiritual  life,  or 
without  searchings  of  heart  and  the  fruitage  of  new  en- 
deavors after  righteousness.       *       * 

The  intensity  of  the  language  in  which  he  was  wont  to 
express  himself  was  but  the  appropriate  clothing  of  in- 
tense emotions  rooted  in  intense  convictions.  With  the 
voice  of  a  lion  and  the  vehemence  of  an  Elijah,  he  united 
the  simple  faith  of  a  child  and  the  heart  of  a  John.  L^ke 
John,  indeed,  he  was  both  a  "son  of  thunder"  and  a  "son 
of  consolation."  He  could  call  down  the  fire  of  heaven  on 
the  heads  of  the  Lord's  enemies;  but  he  knew  also  how  to 
rest  on  the  Lord's  bosom,  and  how  to  say,  "Little  children, 
love  one  another." 

Singlehearted  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ;  indigna- 
tion against  those  who  assaulted  it,  whether  in  turret  or 
foundation  stone;  intense  sincerity  and  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose; have  been  the  key-note  of  his  character.  His  was 
no  anaemic  Christianity,  and  he  had  little  patience  ^v^ih 
languid  service  in  others.  No  one  can  tell  the  fruit  of  his 
labors.  But  surely  the  church  is  poorer  that  this  fire  has 
gone  out  from  her  midst:  and  there  are  hundreds  though- 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  who  will  miss  the 
impulse   and   exhorting  they   were    accustomed    to    expect 

*'°™'^""-  BENJ.  B.   WAliFlELD, 

Princeton,  N.  J. 


276 


APPENDIX. 


"A  MARKED  MAX." 


James  H.  Brookes  ranked  high  among  the  great  and 
noble  men  of  his  generation.  His  splendid  phj-sique,  his 
manly  bearing,  his  lofty  courage,  his  superb  gifts  of  voice 
and  pen,  his  fearless  devotion  to  truth  and  duty,  his  su- 
preme loyalty  to  Christ  his  sole  Master  and  Lord,  made 
him  a  marked  man  among  his  fellows. 

What  he  believed  he  grasped  and  held  with  intensest 
force.  His  thought  found  no  place  for  compromise  of  truth 
with  error,  of  right  with  wrong.  His  love  of  truth  was 
equalled  only  by  his  hatred  of  falsehood.  His  trenchant 
blows  and  strong*  denunciations  were  but  the  expression  of 
his  repudiation  and  abhorrence  of  every  false  way.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  positiveness  and  strength  of  his  con- 
victions, and  the  unmistakable  directness  and  force  of  his 
expression,  he  possessed  a  gentle  disposition,  an  affection- 
ate nature,  a  loving  and  g-entle  heart.  In  personal  inter- 
course.he  beautifully  illustrated  the  meekness  and  gentle- 
ness of  Christ.  He  was  a  most  g'enial,  helpful  and  agree- 
able companion. 

His  knoAvledge  of  the  divine  word  was  perhaps  unequalled 
among  the  men  of  his  time.  But  he  not  only  carried  the 
contents  of  the  Word  in  his  mind.  He  bore  the  spirit  of 
it  in  his  heart.  In  penmeated  his  being,  suppressing'  self 
and  self-seeking,  making  him  quickly  sensitive  and  re- 
sponsive to  all  that  was  generous  and  true  and  sincere,  and 
arousing  swift  antagonism  to  all  that  w-as  selfish,  am- 
bitious, or  false.  The  contrast,  however,  between  his 
rough  handling  of  error  and  his  tender  teaching  of  the 
sincere,  is  not  more  marked  than  is  the  contrast  betAveen 
the  dealings  of  Jesus  with  Pharisees  and  disciples.  For 
the  one,  he  had  only  the  severe  rebuke,  the  stern  denuncia- 
tion. For  the  other,  he  had  only  the  helpfulness  of  sym- 
pathy, gentleness  and  strength. 

The  multitudes  who  have  been  helped  by  his  expositions 
of  divine  truth  will  make  his  crown  glorious  with  innumer- 
able stars  "at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all 
His  saints." 

D.  C.  MARQUIS. 

McCormick  Seminary. 


APPENDIX.  277 

DE.  BROOKES  IN  THE  SESvSION. 

Every  pastor  of  a  larg-e  city  oongreg-ation  feiels  the  need 
of  a  body  of  men  in  official  connection  with  him,  appointed 
to  be  his  helpers  in  the  work,  on  whom  he  may  lean  for 
support  and  with  whom  he  may  confer  freely  at  all  times 
in  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  church.  Such  a  g-roup 
stood  by  Dr.  Brookes  as  pastor  of  the  Walnut  Street,  after- 
wards the  Washing-ton  and  Compton  Avenue  Church,  and 
it  is  fitting'  that  the  Session  of  the  church  should  put  on 
record  such  notice  of  some  of  his  characteristics  as  might 
not  come  to  the  light  through  any  other  channel. 

Dr.  Brookes  highlj^  esteemed  his  official  family,  and  loved 
to  have  them  gather  around  him  in  the  privacy  of  the 
session  room  and  freely  discuss  the  questions  that  arose, 
and  in  all  the  years  of  his  pastorate,  extending-  over  thirty, 
there  was  at  no  time  such  serious  difference  between  him 
and  them  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  work  to- 
gether. Although,  in  accordance  with  his  vigorous  con- 
stitutioai,  his  mental  vision  was  clear  and  po.sitive  and  his 
convictions  strong  and  deep,  he  could  and  did,  not  infre- 
quently, subordinate  his  own  opinion  to  theirs,  believing 
them  to  be  taught  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  given  to  him  for 
advisers  and  not  for  ciphers.  Was  he  independent?  They 
were  likewise;  but  hence  arose  no  division,  no  hindrance  to 
the  common  weal  of  the  beloved  church.  They  walked 
shoulder  to  shoulder  down  the  ripening  years  till  the  very 
hour  of  his  translation. 

One  notable  characteristic  of  Dr.  Brookes  was  Jiis  intense 
love  of  souls.  He  was  ever  planning  and  acting  for  the 
proclamation  of  the  gospel  to  the  neglected.  He  was  ready 
to  lend  his  voice  and  labors  to  any  legitimate  effort  to  bring 
people  under  the  gospel  message  or  carry  it  to  them,  and 
he  followed  his  preaching  by  private  and  personal  counsels 
that  he  mig-ht  "by  all  means  save  some."  He  was  instru- 
mental in  establishing  a  number  of  missions  in  this  city, 
one  particularly  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Bid  die 
Street,  from  which  his  church  received  about  one  hundred 


278  APPENDIX . 

and  fifty  members,  the  fruit  of  Ms  faithful  teaching*  in  and 
out  of  the  pulpit.  Later  on,  he  lent  his  efficient  aid  to  the 
planting  of  the  flourishing  mission  entitled  the  "Compton 
Hill  Chapel,"  now  numbering  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fi.fty  communicants,  and  a  power  for  good  in  the  railroad 
district  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  Many  a  weary  tramp  he 
took  to  reach  this  shelter  for  souls,  that  he  might  preach 
the  Word  or  administer  the  sacraments  and  see  the  precious 
plant  of  God  growing  sensibly  before  his  eyes.  But,  one 
or  two  such  missions  did  not  satisfy  his  craving  for  souls. 
He  said  that  he  would  like  to  have  twenty  preaching  places 
within  reach  and  he  would  engage  to  keep  them  all  going 
and  serve  his  own  church  also.  Less  than  six  months  be- 
fore his  departure,  though  laboring  under  fatal  disease,  he 
visited  a  northern  city  at  the  invitation  of  one  of  its  i>astors, 
and  preached  day  after  day  for  a  week  that  he  might  still 
bring  forth  fruit  and  lend  himself  to  his  favorite  work. 

Connected  naturally  with  this  passion  for  saving  souls 
was  his  tender  receittion  of  such  as  appeared  before  the 
Session  for  examination  with  a  view  to  a  i>ublic  confession. 
Usually,  he  had  seen  them  in  private  and  gained  their  con- 
fidence, as  he  sounded  the  depths  of  their  spiritual  knowl- 
edge and  the  sincerity  of  their  reliance  for  salvation  on  a 
gracious  Saviour.  But,  even  if  he  had  not,  his  manner  was 
so  winning,  his  questions  so  helpful,  his  advice  so  enlighten- 
ing, that  none  would  fail  to  give  evidence  to  the  session  of 
a  clear  and  intelligent  comprehension  of  the  subject,  if,  in- 
deed, they  were  truly  regenerated.  The  session  were  often 
surprised  at  the  remarkable  testimony  given  by  mere 
children,  elicited  by  his  master  mind  in  his  manner  of  laj^- 
ing  before  them  the  fundamental  truths  of  Scripture. 

The  last  feature  which  space  allows  us  to  mention  was 
his  desire  that  there  should  be  a  continuous  revival  in  the 
church.  It  was  to  his  intense  satisfaction  that  he  could  say 
that  in  all  the  years  of  his  pastorate  there  had  never  been 
a  communion  without  some  additions,  few  or  many,  to  the 
church.  But,  he  earnestly  desired  to  see  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  that  is,  the  salvation  of  souls,  prospering  with  great 


AfPKNDlX.  279 

power  and  without  cessation.  He,  deprecated  the  view  that 
the  Lord  would  not  visit  his  people  and  refresh  his  Vine- 
yard in  summer  as  well  as  in  winter,  that  the  Lord  regard- 
ed times  and  seasons  as  men  do.  He  was  of  the  opinion  that 
whenever  the  tithes  were  broug-ht  into  the  Lord's  house  the 
outpouring-  would  surely  follow.  His  regard  for  the  Word 
of  God  was  so  unreserved  that  he  received  it  in  its  literal- 
ness,  and  believed  that  if  the  terms  of  a  promise  were  com- 
plied with  the  stated  result  would  inevitably  come  to  pass, 
and  this  more  especially  in  respect  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry. 

He  magnified  his  calling,  he  gloried  in  its  unlimited  op- 
portunities for  saving  the  lost,  and  in  its  immediate  co- 
operation with  the  Lord  in  extending  the  triumphs  of  the 
Cross.  While  his  eye  was  fixed  unswervingly  on  the  ra- 
diant glory  of  the  Lord's  coming,  his  heart  was  as  intently 
earnest  in  labor  for  the  multiplication  of  converts  and  the 
swelling  of  the  retinue  of  the  Lord  of  Lords  and  King  of 
Kings  which  He  should  bring  with  Him. 

To  the  session  he  was  a  noble  leader,  in  the  session  he 
was  a  faithful  and  loving  brother,  to  copy  his  spirit-taug-ht 
zeal  is  our  worthy  ambition,  and  to  cherish  the  memory  of 
his  self-sacrificing  work  and  his  ever  ready  sympathy  shall 
be  a  life  lasting  pleasure. 

Lovingly  contributed  by 

THE  SESSION  OF  WASHINGTON  &  COMPTON  AVE. 

CHURCH. 

Per  S.  W.  BARBER,  Clerk. 
St.  Louis,  Oct.  30,  1897. 


DR.  BROOKES  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

One  of  the  most  precious  of  the  Master's  gifts  is  sym- 
pathy,— the  power  to  enter  into  the  joys  and  sorrows  of 
others. 

"A  heart  at  leisure  from  itself  to  soothe  and  sympathize." 


280  APPENDIX. 

E^ady  to  rejoice  with  those  that  rejoice,  and  to  weep  with 
those  that  weep. 

A  double  portion  of  this  lovely  spirit  was  g-iven  to  onr 
late  beloved  pastor.  Perhaps  no  where  was  his  beautiful 
tenderheartedness  more  perfectlj'  shown  than  in  the  sick- 
room. 

His  g-reat  warm  heart  went  out  in  overflowing-  sj'mpathy 
for  the  suffering"  ones.  His  very  presence  seemed  to  soothe 
the  tortured  nerves  and  bring-  calmness  and  rest.  How 
often  it  came  to  pass  as  he  read  to  the  sufferer  from  the 
Word  he  so  loved  the  g-lorious  promises,  or  told  in  his  own 
wonderfully  clear  way  the  story  of  Calvarj^  the  unrest,  the 
shadows,  the  darkness  would  pass  away;  and  pain  be  al- 
most forgotten  in  the  joj^  and  gladness  of  the  heart-rest 
and  the  light. 

How  welcome  he  was  in  the  homes  that  death  had  made 
desolate  I  The  heart  torn  with  grief  never  shrank  from  his 
gentle  touch.  When  words  seemed  almost  meaningless 
and  the  suffering  heart  cried  out  in  its  agony,  "Miserable 
comforters  are  ye  all,"  he  came.  He  made  the  sorrow  his 
own,  and  his  loving  sympathy,  his  words  of  cheer  and  help 
will  never  be  forgotten  while  life  lasts. 

The  record  erf  these  numberless  loving  ministries  can 
never  be  written  except  in  the  hearts  of  those  they  have 
blest;  but  what  a  story  will  be  told  in  the  glorious  here- 
after! There  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  forever  and  ever 
we  will  render  joyful  thanksgiving  to  our  Father  for  the 
gift  of  such  a  pastor  as  Dr.  Brookes  was. 

"ONE  OF  HIS  PEOPLE." 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  his  companion  on  his  last  jour- 
nej'  to  Niagara  and  the  return  to  his  retreat  in  our  western 
Carolina  mountains,  where  he  was  spending  a  part  of  the 
summer.  Those  who  knew  Dr.  Brookes  personally  can 
understand  how  many  happy  memories  cluster  around  that 


APPENDIX.  281 

four  days  of  travel.    We  had  "Niagara"  all  to  ourselves  in 
the  sleeper  to  and  from  that  Conference. 

The  "little  flock"  is  bereft  of  a  leader  w^hose  boldness  in 
defense  of  "the  faith"  won  for  him  the  criticism  of  that 
alarmingly  increasingly  element  in  the  professing  church 
which  insists  upon  speaking  only  "smooth  words,"  lest  the 
enemies  of  Christ  and  of  His  truth,  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of 
it,  be  "offended." 

Though  "absent  from  the  body"  his  written  testimony 
will  continue  to  bear  fruit  to  the  glory  of  His  name  "till 
He  come." 

EOBT.  U.  GARRETT. 

Asheville,  N.  C. 


When  the  word  was  brought  to  me  that  I  should  see  no 
more  with  mortal  eyes  the  face  of  my  beloved  friend  and 
teacher,  James  H.  Brookes,  I  felt  that  he  mig'ht  well  have 
passed  to  the  presence  of  his  Lord  with  Paul's  great 
triumph  song  upon  his  lips:  "I  have  fought  a  good  fight;  I 
have  finished  my  course;  I  have  kept  the  faith."  There 
was  in  him  the  heart  of  David's  mighty  men.  Like  Eleazer, 
"his  hand  clave  unto  the  sword."  The  Word  of  God  was 
ever  the  end  of  controversy  with  him,  and  also  the  sword 
which  he  valiantly  wielded. 

Our  brother  will  be  remembered  as  a.  brave  defender  of 
the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,  but  some  of 
us  know  how  tender  and  how  helpful  was  the  great  heart 
now  stilled,  in  death.  My  own  personal  obligations  to  him 
are  beyond  words.  He  sought  me  in  the  first  days  of  my 
Christian  life,  and  was  my  first  and  best  teacher  in  the 

oraoles  of  God. 

C.  I.  SCOFIELD. 
The  Parsonage,  E.  Northfield,  Mass. 


In  the  death  of  James  H.  Brookes  we  lose  the  bravest 
and  ablest  defender  of  the  faith  in  this  generation,  with 
weapons  drawn  from  the  arsenal  of  the  word  itself,  against 


282  APP:eNDix. 

the  treasonable  assaults  of  this  present  and  last  prophetic 
apostasy. 

He  was  also  a  powerful  preacher  and  masterly  teacher, 
combining-  strength  and  tenderness,  power  and  pathos. 

We  who  knew  him  personally  lose  a  kind,  affectionate 
and  true  friend. 

We  si>eak  of  him,  not  for  vain  eulogy,  for  he  would  say, 
"Cease  from  man,"  but  would  fain  prolong  his  faithful  tes- 
timony from  the  tomb. 

E.  P.  MARVIN. 

Lockport,  N.  Y. 


I  knew  him  from  the  time  I  was  a  student  in  college,  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ag-o,  and  long  before  he  knew  me. 
He  was  no  man's  enemy,  but  the  unrelenting  enemy  of 
error;  and  he  had  the  courage  of.  his  convictions.  He  used 
plain  and  unmistakable  words.  It  was  his  firm  conviction 
that  no  softer  ones  were  adequate.  His  knowledg-e  of  the 
contents  of  the  Bible  was  marvelous.  To  him  the  book 
was  God's  word  and  final. 

Many  believe  just  as  he  did,  but  few  have  the  daring 
which  he  displayed  to  declare  their  views.  He  stood  like 
an  Old  Testament  prophet,  witnessing  for  God  and  His 
Word,  fearing  none,  high  or  low.  He  looked  upon  himself 
as  a  lonely  man,  but  few  had  such  ardent  friends,  and  even 
those  ag-ainst  whose  errors  his  thunderbolts  were  shot 
could  not  help  but  admire  his  courage. 

J.  M.  STIFLER. 

Chester,  Pa. 


A  COLORED  WOMAN'S  TESTIMONY. 

Jenny,  a  colored  sister  and  member  of  his  church,  says  of 
Dr.  Brookes: 

"He  put  no  difference  between  poor  and  rich.  My 
brother-in-law,  named  Jackson,  was  sick  and  going  to  die, 
and  me  and  my  sister  was  dreadful  anxious  because  he 
would  not  talk  to  us  about  his  soul.     He  just  wouldn't  say 


APPKNDIX.  283 

anything-,  and  we  couldn't  tell  whether  he  was  believin'  in 
Jesus  or  not;  and  so,  says  I,  I'll  g-o  and  see  Dr.  Brookes  and 
ask  him  to  come  and  talk  to  Jack  and  pray  for  him? 

"Well,  I  went  to  his  house  and  he  came  out  to  the  door 
just  as  friendly  as  if  I  was  one  of  his  rich  members,  as  he 
always  was,  and,  says  he,  'What  can  I  do  for  you,  Jenny?' 
Then  I  told  him  all  about  it,  and  he  said  he  would  see  him. 

He  had  a  funeral  to  attend  and  then  he  had  to  see  a  dying- 
lady,  and  he  had  a  man  inside  the  house  at  that  time  on 
business,  and  had  a  meeting-  in  the  south  part  of  the  city; 
'but,'  says  he,  'I'll  get  there  if  its  twelve  o'clock  to-nig-ht.' 
So  I  g-ave  hirn  directions  how  to  gpet  in  to  Jack's  house, 
which  was  in  an  inside  yard  with  an  alley  leadin'  in  from 
the  street.  So,  sure  enoug-h,  along-  late  in  the  evening-  they 
heard  him  come  gropin'  in  and  knockin'  at  the  door  and 
sayin',  'It's  me,  Mr.  Brookes!'  They  let  him  in  and  he  sat 
rig-ht  down  by  the  bed  and  got  out  his  little  testament  and 
read  a  number  of  places;  then  he  took  Jack's  hand  and 
talked  to  him,  oh!  so  sweet,  about  Jesus  and  heaven  and 
the  way  to  be  saved,  and  Jack  took  it  all  in  and  the  Lord 
helped  him  to  believe.  Then  the  doctor  knelt  down  and 
prayed  for  him  and  pled  with  the  Lord  to  open  his  eyes  to 
see  Jesus  as  his  Savious,  and  when  he  g-ot  up  and  asked  him 
whether  he  believed,  he  said,  'Yes,  I  do;  g-lory  be  to  God,' 
and  he  kept  on  that  way  and  died  rejoicin'. 

"I  tell  you,  he  loved  colored  jj^ople  and  wanted  them 
saved  just  the  same  as  whites."  *    *    * 


EXTEACTS  FEOM  LETTERS. 

From  all  sections  of  this  land,  and  from  abroad,  there 
came  letters  to  the  family  bearing-  words  of  sincere  praise 
for  the  departed  one,  and  of  tender  sympathy  for  the 
bereaved.     The  following  are  extracts: 


"My  heart  goes  out  to  you.     *    *     -»     I  was  glad  that  1 
heard  him  pray  once  more  on  earth.     (Dr.  Brookes'  prayer 


284  APPENDIX. 

at  one  of  ^Nfr.  Moodj^'s  recent  St.  Louis  meeting's.)  It  did 
me  good.  Dear  man,  he  is  free  from  his  sufferings  now, 
and  how  he  Avill  enjoy  heaven!  What  a  grand  time  he  will 
have  in  that  world  of  Lig'ht  and  Joy.  He  may  soon  be 
back  again  with  his  Saviour.  I  do  not  think  he  would  like 
to  come  back  again  in  the  flesh.  So  he  has  gained  by  what 
we  call  death.     *    *     *     " — D.  L.  Moody. 


"Last  evening  I  learned  of  the  death  of  mj^  dear  friend, 
'Captain  Greatheart,'  leader  in  Christ's  battles,  to  whom  I 
owe  so  much,  for  loyal,  loving  friendship  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  for  clear  and  faithful  teaching,  and  for  heroic 
defence  of  the  truth.  For  me,  and  for  hundreds  beside  me, 
'a  great  man  and  a  prince  has  fallen  in  Israel.'  He  was  my 
ideal  of  a  preacher  of  the  word  of  God,  and  an  inspirer  ol 
other  men  to  quit  themselves  valiantly  for  Christ.  There 
is  no  one  to  take  his  place;  no  one  whose  voice  can  reach 
so  far;  no  one  with  arm  so  strong  to  wield  the  sword  for 
the  truth.  I  thank  God  that  I  ever  knew  him,  and  for  all 
that  I  have  received  from  God  through  him." — Major  D. 
W.  Whittle. 


"He  was  more  to  me  in  the  Master's  work  than  any  living 
man.  His  fidelity  to  God's  Word  w^as  my  first  inspiration 
to  its  close  study  and  verbal  declaration,  and  above  all 
others,  he  was  my  model  as  a  faithful  herald." — Eev.  W.  R. 
Dobyns. 


"I  know  what  he  was  in  his  own  home,  my  dear  cousin. 
He  was  always  and  everywhere  your  lover,  tender  and  true 
in  every  fibre  of  his  great  loving  heart.  *  *  *  It  is  easy 
and  sweet  to  think  of  him  in  heaven.  His  citizenship  has 
been  there  for  many  years,  and  he  had  learned  the  speech 
of  that  country."— Mary  Virginia  Terhune. 


APPENDIX.  285 

"He  had,  as  few  men  have,  foug^ht  the  good  fig-ht,  finished 
the  course,  kept  the  faith.  And  to  his  cleared  vision,  the 
hope  of  that  apjoearing  which  he  loved  is  brighter  and  more 
blessed  than  ever." — Rev.  W.  H.  Marquess. 


"There  are  few  men  I  esteemed  so  highly  and  loved  so 
much  as  Dr.  Brookes.  His  devotion  to  truth,  his  frank  and 
manly  testimony  in  a  time  of  wide-spread  defection,  made 
him  a  great  power  not  only  in  the  community  in  which  he 
lived  so  long,  and  which  he  served  so  ably  and  faithfully, 
but  in  the  whole  world.     *    *     * 

"He  is  one  of  the  few  who,  though  dead,  will  continue  to 
speak.  How  beautiful  that  he  should  slip  away  from  us  on 
Easter  morning." — Rev.  M.  Rhodes. 


EDITORIAL  EXPRESSIONS. 

"Dr.  Brookes  was  eminently  a  man  of  'the  Book'  and  'a 
minister  of  the  Word.'  He  put  himself  in  utter  subjection 
to  its  authority.  *  *  He  seemed  peculiarly  to  illustrate 
the  mind  of  the  apostles.  As  a  pastor  his  one  aim  appeared 
to  be  the  application  of  the  Word  for  comfort,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness,  or  for  rebuke.  In  character  he  was 
warmhearted,  sympathetic  and  tender.  He  was  singularly 
ingenuous  and  transparent  and  always  manly.  He  was 
ingenuous  and  transparent  and  always  manly.  *  '^  " — 
Dr.  Meade  C.  Williams,  in  Herald  and  Presbyter. 


"Dr.  Brookes  was  one  of  the  ablest  Bible  preachers  of 
his  time,  fully  possessed  of  absolute  faith  in  the  Word, 
familiar  with  it  as  a  book,  and  a  profound  student  of  its 
truth,  and  last,  trained  in  its  j^erfect  use  of  the  Saxon,  it 
made  him  a  dogmatic  and  powerful  preacher  of  the  type  of 
the  old  prophets,  whose  spirit  he  had  so  fully  imbibed  that 
he  was  much  like  them." — Dr.  W.  C.  Gray,  in  the  Interior. 


286  APPENDIX. 

"Few  have  more  endeared  themselves  to  those  who  love 
the  Word  of  God  and  the  God  of  the  Word  than  Dr.  Brookes. 
His  lo3'al  defence  of  the  truth  in  days  when  it  is  being 
attacked  upon  every  quarter,  made  Dr.  Brookes  a  marked 
man,  and  called  for  as  warm  and  tender  a  love  on  the  part 
of  his  friends  as  the  reverse  on  the  part  of  others." — 
Chin<i'8  Milliom. 


"He  developed  excellent  power  in  the  Lord's  work  from 
the  first.  *  *  He  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  'Declara- 
tion and  Testimony,'  the  protest  of  Kentuckians  and  Mis- 
sourians  (put  forth  in  1865).  *  *  As  editor  of  The  Truth 
*  *  he  has  exercised  an  influence  far  beyond  his  pas- 
torate."— Christian  Observer. 


"As  a  valiant  upholder  of  the  old-fashioned  gospel,  Dr. 
Brookes  had  no  superior  in  this  country.  For  many  years 
he  was  a  most  successful  pastor,  but  it  was  by  his  many 
writingTs  he  was  known  to  and  loved  by  a  very  large  circle 
of  readers." — Episcopal  Recorder. 


"He  had  no  difficulties  in  regard  to  accepting  every  jot 
and  title  of  the  Word.  It  was  to  him  God's  own  truth, 
entirely  unmixed  with  human  error.  There  lay  his 
strength.  *  *  He  was  a  power  in  the  church." — Michigan 
Presbyterian. 


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